Follow the MacGuffin
by ShanghaiLily
Summary: After a botched FBI case sends Veronica scrambling back to Neptune, she decides to lick her wounds while working at Mars Investigations. What starts out as a simple cheating spouse case for one of the city's most notorious residents, quickly goes awry and triggers a series of events that unravel a twisted plot leading her to the last person she'd expect to find. Adventure! LoVe!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – Hi Everybody. This is my first VM story, so I'm pretty nervous about getting it right. I've written a bunch of stories for That 70's Show, but never VM – which is one of my favorite shows ever! Just so you know, this is a LoVe fic. Hope I do VM justice :)**

**PS - If I owned VM, I would be my own biggest fan, but instead I'm Rob Thomas's. (ie- I don't own Veronica Mars, but I wish I did!)**

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**CHAPTER 1**

Veronica Mars turned off the last lamp in her hotel room at the Neptune Grand, then perched herself on the interior windowsill and turned on her camera. She pressed the magnifying lens against the glass and zeroed in on a room directly across from her own. The hotel was U-shaped, and several of the rooms faced inward, so she was in a prime position to catch the action.

"The mark just entered the suite," she whispered into her tiny Bluetooth mic, as a pretty redhead in her late 20's, with more fake parts than real, walked into the room and put her purse down on the night table.

The redhead ran her hand along the bedspread, seemingly in thought, and then proceeded to unzip the expensive-looking, midnight blue, sheath dress that clung tightly to her every curve, letting it pool around her feet before kicking it to the side of the room.

She paced the room a few times and then picked up her cell phone and made a short, but seemingly tense, phone call.

_For a woman who looks like she knows her way around the bedroom, this Philly appears to be rather nervous._

"Is she as smokin' hot as she looks in those pictures her husband dropped off?" a low voice rumbled mischievously on the other end of the line.

Veronica rolled her eyes and smirked. "If by hot, you mean 'hot to trot', then yes, very. She's already stripped down to her bra and underwear and her gentleman caller hasn't even gotten to the room yet. And did I mention she's wearing garters?" She looked down at her grey hoodie and jeans and felt a pang of inadequacy.

"Damn!" he said with marked appreciation. "Text me some pics once she has all her clothes off."

She giggled and changed the aperture on her camera to accommodate the dim lighting. "I most certainly will not! We are professionals," she said, faking indignation. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Weevil."

"My mind is the gutter, Vee," he quipped. "You gonna be okay out there by yourself? I know you're probably a little rusty," he said with a studied casualness she knew he was using to piss her off.

Veronica's mouth dropped open with genuine indignation this time. "I probably did more stake-outs in my junior year of high school than you have in your entire career Navarro, so settle down and maybe try on a smaller pair of pants, Mr. Big Britches."

He laughed heartily. "You were always too easy to wind up, Vee."

She fired off a few test shots. "Oh, she just took her bra off..." She lied.

The bald man perked up. "Yeah? How do they look?"

"You're not so hard to wind up either, Eli."

"It's good to have you back, shorty." She could hear the mirth in his voice and imagined him smiling into the telephone receiver.

The familiar weight of the camera settled into her small hands and she roughly exhaled her nervous energy. The job was simple, but it was the first one she'd done in years and she didn't want to screw it up. Veronica Mars had a rep to protect.

"That's your cue to say 'Yeah Weevs, it's good to be back'...or ain't it good to be back, Vee?" he asked her.

"What?" she said, as she was jerked out of her reverie.

"I asked if you were happy to be back," he repeated slowly, as if he thought her brain was working at half-speed.

"Oh." She thought about it for a moment. "I'll let you know in an hour. Bye Weevs," she said in the most honeyed tone she could conjure, then tapped the end button on her Bluetooth before he had a chance to respond.

It had only been a week since she'd returned to Neptune and she was already falling comfortably into her old routine – a routine that would have had her running for the exit if somebody had offered it to her five years ago. When she was a kid, she always dreamed of bigger things, but she recently learned the hard way that bigger isn't always better.

Veronica enjoyed her summer training course at the FBI, so she naturally thought the real deal would be the perfect fit. In a lot of ways it was. She loved the vast access she had to people and information, intel she could only dream of when she was first working a small town PI. It made her job infinitely easier, though admittedly less creative and definitely more boring.

She was trained well by the Feds, and could wield a gun almost as handily as she could wield her mouth. They also taught her how to defend herself – a skill she'd been sorely lacking as a teen.

In addition, each trainee was issued their own, bio-metric handgun, as well as a few other little neat gadgets that would put her dad's tech stash to shame, though she would always have a special place in her heart for her old faithful - Mr. Sparky.

However, the best part about the FBI was that no matter how unimposing she might look to some, when she was carrying her badge she commanded instant respect everywhere she went. Even just knowing it was tucked away in her pocket made her walk a few inches taller. No Don Lamb-type idiots with power dared to give her the side-eye or brush her off once she flashed her credentials. The badge commanded respect.

However useful the knowledge she gained was, after a couple of years training under the wing of the Bureau, her 'perfect fit' started to feel more like a noose that pulled tighter with each move she made. She was never one for rules, and the FBI had more rules in their organization than field agents. The kind of rules that impose dire consequences on those who dare to break them. For somebody like Veronica, this was akin to waving a red flag.

She experienced some of those dire consequences personally after her last big case, where she disregarded protocol and tried to apprehend the perp on her own. A 2" scar on the back of her neck and a gentle suggestion that she take a leave of absence for six months to 're-evaluate her commitment to the FBI', left her with serious doubts about her compatibility with the Bureau, and a career working in law enforcement, in general. Deep in her marrow, she knew that it wasn't working, but she was never one for letting go of a dream.

Veronica was abruptly pulled out of her reverie by the site of a well-built man in designer jeans and a clingy t-shirt gracefully sauntering down the hallway of the suite she was surveying. She could see his outline through the hallway windows, but they were tinted, so it was tough to get details like age or ethnicity. From his body though, she'd put him as somewhere between 22-38. Probably white or Latino.

"Hello luvah," she purred as she sat up straighter. She lifted her camera and tried to zoom in to get a clearer shot, but the man was faced in the wrong direction and was wearing a dark fedora that obscured his eyes.

_Drat._

She frowned when she realized there would be no feasible way to get a clear picture of him entering the hotel room.

_Que sera sera. At least the client's horny wife had the decency to leave all of the blinds open. I'll catch him then._

The woman's suitor lifted his fist but didn't knock, choosing instead to let it hover over the door for a moment. He placed a hand to his head and turned as if to leave, yet never took a step.

_Having second thoughts, loverboy?_

After seeming to wrestle with his decision for whatever reason, he finally lifted his hand again and rapped on the door a few times.

Veronica fired off a few more shots at the tinted glass with her camera, despite knowing they'd probably be worthless.

At the sound of the knock, the redhead's face registered dread, rather than excitement.

_Not happy to see him, eh? Guess somebody's not as good in bed as he looks._

She shifted her body to get a better angle.

The woman opened the door and greeted her visitor with a broad smile and a kiss on the cheek. Not exactly the degree of warmth you'd expect a lady to greet her illicit lover with. She led him to the center of the room with a dutiful smile that suggested less that she was engaging in an erotic encounter and more that she was entertaining her husband's boss.

The redhead snatched the young man's hat from his head and placed it on her own head, then ran her hands down the center of his his chest, before tugging the ends of his shirt up to lift it over his head.

_Now, that's more like it._

Veronica snapped away furiously. She zoomed in to get a tighter shot the man and found herself admiring his muscular back and arms, which made her feel just a little bit dirty.

It had been too long since she'd gotten laid and she feared it was starting to affect her brain. After porn fluffer, PI was probably the worst job a sexually frustrated chick could have. According to her partner, peeping was one of the 'perks' of the job, so maybe she should just sit back and enjoy the view without guilt like her bald friend does?

_God, I forgot how much this job makes me feel like a perv. I seriously can't believe my dad let me watch all of this in high school, yet came storming onto the porch if one of my dates lingered too long when they kissed me goodnight. It was like letting me watch a porno, but only covering up one eye._

The couple was kissing now, and something about the guy's urgency, the way he embraced her, made Veronica flush from head to toe. However, as she peered into the viewfinder of her camera, she realized she was oddly alone in that feeling.

The redhead was clearly the aggressor, yet her eagerness seemed to belie the passionless manner in which she pawed her lover. She attended to the man with the level of enthusiasm of a paid whore – no, worse – a paid whore with a gun trained at her head. Strange, considering her boyfriend was built like Perseus and had moves to spare.

_If she's this uninterested in her side piece, her poor husband must be sleeping with a freaking mannequin._

Her face scrunched up in thought.

Something in the sauce ain't right.

Veronica tapped redial on her Bluetooth.

"Miss me already?" Weevil asked, before the phone even reached his ear.

"You never gave me the details on this case, just a location and instruction," she said curtly.

"You never asked. It's a pretty cut and dry, cheating wife case. Nothing unusual," he said.

"I'll be the judge of that," she said, as she narrowed her eyes in an attempt to get a face shot of the woman's paramour.

"Gimme a second and I'll pull up the file."

The rhythmic sound of Weevil's rapid keystrokes soothed her frayed nerves. Why was she so nervous? He said it was a cut and dry case, she reminded herself. Cut and dry.

_Who am I kidding? Nothing is ever cut and dry in Neptune._

"Come on, Casanova. Turn around and say cheese," she whispered under her breath as she refocused her lens. "Almost there."

"Okay, I got it. The husband's name is Sorokin," he said. "Do you need me to spell it?"

Her brow furrowed and she found herself distracted. "What? Did you say Sorokin?" she asked as she unconsciously lowered her camera.

Weevil cleared his throat. "Gary or Gory or something like that."

"Gorya Sorokin?" she ased, rising to stand on shaky legs.

"Do you know him, Vee? You sound freaked out," Weevil asked with obvious concern.

She took a deep breath and tried hard to focus her thoughts. Whoever this dumb chump in front of her was, he was in deep shit and needed to be warned immediately or he'd probably be sporting a pair of lead shoes by the end of the night.

_No. With Gorya Sorokin involved, this wasn't an innocent lover's tryst. This broad had something else planned for the poor sap._

"You know him, too," she said. "Remember that douchebag who made a sex video of Piz and me at Hearst in my freshman year?"

"Fuckkkk," Weevil cursed slowly.

"He's got ties to the Russian mob. I can't believe it's a coincidence I'm here right now. I've been gone for years and my first case back is for Sorokin? No," she said, shaking her head. "Did he ask for me specifically?"

Weevil exhaled loudly.

"I'll take that as a yes," she mumbled to herself. "How could he possibly know I'm back in town? I travel with ghost IDs."

"Stay put Vee, I'm on my way. And even though it's kinda your calling card, try not to do anything reckless or stupid." He hung up the phone immediately.

"What do you want me to see, Gory?" She gazed out of the window, searching for anything that might be amiss.

Veronica scrolled through her phone for her father's number and called it.

She pressed her face to the window and cupped her hands around her eyes to reduce the glare from the lights outside.

_Come on, loverboy. Turn around and show yourself to me. I want to help you, you poor idiot._

The phone rang several times.

"Hey sweetie, what's shakin'?" Keith answered with his typical chipper disposition.

Veronica hesitated before sharing her suspicions. Of course her dad knew of the Sorokin family, but not of her personal involvement with them. After weathering the election debacle and subsequent court case, she felt like it would only have been cruel to shovel on more disappointment. A ruined career and a long drawn out mistrial was torture enough, he didn't need to know that the entire universe could access a naked video of his daughter with just the click of a mouse. She couldn't knock him down, just as he was getting back on his feet again.

"Hey Pops. Something strange is going down at the Grand. I'm on a cheating spouse stake-out and something's off."

"Get out of there and I'll send a car to go check it out," he said, slipping easily into professional mode.

"No, dad. This case...the guy who hired us is Gorya Sorokin. Weevil just told me a few minutes ago," Veronica said, as she furiously snapped photos of the woman as she embraced the man and showered him with kisses.

Abruptly, the boyfriend sloughed the redhead off of him and tried to reason with her about something.

_Uh-oh. Guess he's not as dumb as he looks._

"I repeat: Get the hell out of there, Veronica and let the PD take care of it!" Keith said angrily.

The tiny PI let out a silent scream of frustration. "I'm better trained than half your PD, dad. You're wasting time on the phone with me when you could be sending over some guys."

"Veronica..."

She knew that tone well. She'd heard it every time she missed curfew as a kid.

"Dad...I gotta go," she whispered as she tapped the off button on her Bluetooth. She knew she'd catch hell for hanging up on him later.

_How many times do I have to prove to him how capable I am before he trusts me and just stops worrying?_

The redhead and the man were arguing now. She tried to maneuver him toward the window, but he wasn't interested in heading that way, and preferred to pace the floor back and forth in the same pattern, like a caged panther. He was moving too fast for her.

The woman was standing as still as a statue when a look of utter panic crossed her face and she glanced out of the window, staring directly at Veronica, who jumped back in shock.

_Can she see me watching them? What is she looking at?_

Veronica ran to the farthest window in the room and tried to peer into the windows of the room directly next to her. She couldn't see a person, but she could see the unmistakable reflection a long-range rifle in her neighbor's window pane.

"Crap!" she said, as she unzipped her hoodie and drew her gun. She quickly took off the safety and placed it carefully back into her shoulder holster.

The redhead subtly shook her head no, as if pleading with the person in the suite next to hers not to do something drastic.

The boyfriend finally stopped pacing and crossed the room to face the woman, who was still loitering next to the window. He grabbed her face and turned it toward his, then dropped his hand and cursed angrily before leaned his forehead against the window with apparent consternation. What was he looking for?

"Yahtzee!" Veronica zoomed in and pulled the focus on her camera.

One click of the shutter is all the time it took for her brain to register the identity of the man in front of her.

_Logan Echolls._

_Her_ Logan, standing in front of a giant, glass bulls-eye with Gorya Sorokin's wife, unknowingly waiting to die. Her Logan, whose soulful eyes seemed to penetrate her through a couple of panes of glass, many yards of distance and several years apart.

"Shit!" she cursed as she dropped the camera and pulled her gun out of the holster. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Stupid Logan! So stupid!"

With all of the lights off in the room, she knew he couldn't see her, but she hoped he could at least feel her presence. He used to be able to.

Logan seemed to finally pick up on his paramour's fear, and followed her gaze to Veronica's neighbor's window. Defiance swept over his features and he dove for the blinds, which shut almost immediately, blocking the view entirely.

Several near silent shots rang out from the suite next to her and shattered the window of the redhead's room.

Veronica's face crumpled silently in agony and she froze as her hand reached the door handle.

_Please..._

She was jolted into action by the loud slam of the door next to hers followed by heavy footsteps running away, then swung open her own door and took off running in the opposite direction of the footprints left in the freshly vacuumed carpet.

One advantage she had over the assassin, was insider knowledge. Between her relationships over the years with both Duncan and Logan, she practically had lived at this hotel and knew the fastest possible route from anywhere to anywhere. For example, she knew gunman was about to run into a dead end and would have to backtrack.

The hallway was silent, except for her own ragged breath ringing in her ears as she sprinted at top speed toward Logan's room. She couldn't allow herself to pray for him. Praying would suggest she couldn't control the situation, and that's not something she was willing to give up.

Finding the door of the room slightly ajar, she slipped inside, shut it behind her then silently hitched the slide lock, careful to check the immediate area first for a second assassin, just in case.

On the floor, in a rapidly forming red pool, she spotted the redhead lying next to a bloody fedora. A fatal bullet wound had punctured her skull.

_No sign of Logan._

She exhaled her relief.

Veronica advanced toward the bathroom and quietly turned the knob.

Suddenly, she felt a muscular arm stretch across her throat from behind and pull tightly. Struggling to breathe, she dropped her gun to the floor and flipped the attacker over her head onto his back.

They both scrambled desperately for the gun, and for the first time in five years, she found herself face-to-face with the man who has haunted her dreams for longer than she'd care to admit. He looked good. He looked amazing, actually, but now was not the time.

His mouth dropped open in shock and she quickly slapped a hand over it to shut him up as she picked her gun up off of the floor, then motioned for him to get behind her.

"Veronica Mars?" he whispered, his eyes widened in disbelief. "I guess I shouldn't be that surprised you tried to kill me, all things considered."

"If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have made it out of high school. Now shush," Veronica said curtly, signaling for him to shut up.

Logan held his hands up in surrender and followed orders, climbing back into the closet he recently sprang out of.

A bullet whizzed through the lock of the door and the handle jiggled open, catching on the safety latch. She heard a man swear in Russian, then knock the door open with one swift kick.

She could hear the gunman advance slowly at a consistent pace, stopping only briefly to look at his handiwork on the floor by the window before continuing onward.

Her hand steady and nerves steeled, Veronica tucked her small body behind the bookcase and waited for the shooter to pass in front of her.

The moment he stepped into view, she violently pushed the cold steel of her gun against the back of the man's skull, shoving him face-first into the wall. "Drop the gun, or I drop you," she informed him in her most authoritative voice.

The gunman froze initially, until he heard her speak, then relaxed his body and chuckled. "They sent a little girl?" He was a huge Slavic bear of a man, and clearly not intimidated by much.

"My gun's looking pretty big though, and it's pointed directly at your brain," she barked in a tone that let him know she meant business. "Drop your weapon or I pull the trigger."

He cursed in Russian and his meaty hand tossed a silver .45 handgun to the floor. "FBI or Neptune's finest?" he asked in heavily-accented English, his tone transmitting his obvious disdain for the latter.

Ignoring his query, Veronica shoved the gun harder into the back of his skull. "Hands behind your head and interlock your fingers." He groaned his displeasure, but quickly followed suit.

"FBI, then," he said with a smirk, as she pat him down for more weapons.

Finding none, she leaned over to pick his gun up while keeping hers trained on his head.

In a split second, he reverse-kicked her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her small body flying into the bookshelf. He then dove to grab his gun back, but she managed to kick it out of his grasp just in time.

As Veronica gasped for air, she watched helplessly as Logan launched himself at the assassin, knocking them both to the ground in a frantic tussle. The man was much bigger than her ex, but she knew he could hold the behemoth off for a while. After all, scrapping was Logan's specialty, and if anybody knew how to take a punch, it was him.

The gunman sent a firm right hook into Logan's jaw, cutting his lip with his pinky ring in the process, and the younger man answered him back by sharply bringing his elbow down onto the thug's couperose nose with a sickening crack, breaking it instantly. The hitman began to writhe in blind pain.

Logan tried to catch his breath between pants, and he wiped the blood off of his face with the edge of his shirt. "'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent' - that one's Isaac Asimov. Thought you might appreciate something from a fellow Russian."

Veronica shook her head in wonder as she finally regained her breath, rolling herself onto all fours. "Logan," she rasped, instantly gaining his attention.

The Russian used this distraction to take a swipe at Logan, but he was too late. Veronica lunged for her gun and pulled off a shot, easily winging him. The giant winced in pain, but refused to give up. He took one last run at her ex-boyfriend and she winged his other arm, rendering him defenseless.

He still wouldn't give up. It was clear to all that he was a dead man. He'd be killed by her or killed by the Sorokin family for failing them when all of this was all through. There was no way he'd live to see a courtroom.

_Dead men tell no tales._

"I'm not going to kill you, so stop trying! You're just going to end up a quad if you keep this up," she snapped, steeling her gaze.

His eyes read defeat and he nodded sadly then rolled onto the floor and whimpered from the pain.

Veronica's gun was aimed at the assassin, but her eyes settled firmly on the man to his right.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," Logan deadpanned with his usual flourish. He leaned into the wall and a small smile played upon his lips.

She felt short of breath once more, but this time it was for an entirely different reason.

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**A/N – What did you think? Good/Bad/Ugly? Are they all in-character? Are you intrigued? Lemme know in the reviews section!**

**PLEASE NOTE: I'm in the process of editing these chapters, so if you see some style/structure inconsistencies, it's because I haven't gotten to those chapters yet. I'm also putting in some summaries at the beginning of each chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much for all of the review LoVe! It's really encouraging, so please keep it coming, because it lets me know that I'm on track. **

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Previously: 5 yrs after she left, Veronica returns to Neptune after she messes up a case for the FBI. She decides to work for Mars Investigations, which is now co-owned by Weevil. While working a cheating spouse case - unknowingly for Gory Sorokin - she witnesses an assassination attempt, only to discover the target was Logan Echolls. She manages to save him, just in the nick of time.

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**CHAPTER 2**

Both on edge, Veronica and Logan stared wordlessly at one another from either side of the ailing hitman, who looked up at both of them, no doubt wondering what the hell he had stepped in the middle of. It was like a Mexican standoff, if one of the Mexicans was a Husky Siberian.

Between his assassination attempt and the reappearance of Neptune's favorite pint-sized detective, Logan was pretty sure he was either dreaming all of this or lying on the floor of a TJ bar, gravely in need of having the contents of his stomach pumped. If it weren't for the steady ache in his jaw and the dead redhead bleeding out in the corner, he'd be pinching himself right now.

"Long time no see," he said with a genuine smile. "You disappeared so completely when you left for your FBI program, I thought maybe you'd joined the CIA instead."

She lowered her arms a bit. "I know we need to talk."

_Aiming a heavy gun for that long has got to be tiring._

"What do you mean? We're talking now." Logan gestured to the space between them. "In town for the holidays or just passing through?"

She checked her watch and glanced at the door expectantly. "Depends on the weather, really."

"Whether what?" he asked.

"Whether or not my friends are still talking to me," she said.

He looked at his feet and smiled. "Oh. You still have friends?"

"I used to," she said with a sense of humility in her voice that he hadn't heard in ages. "A long time ago." She smiled knowingly.

Were they still friends? He didn't know.

_We certainly didn't leave things that way._

She left for her summer internship at the FBI, and then vanished without ever looking back. Nobody knew where she went, not even her lapdog, Piz - whom she incidentally neglected to break up with before skipping town.

Logan wasn't Piz though. He deserved better than that.

He tried relentlessly to contact her, but her phone number was canceled and her dad sure as shit wasn't talking. All attempts locate her through a PI were, of course, fruitless.

_Apparently, it's actually really easy to hide from a PI when you are a PI. Go figure._

But here she was, materialized out of the ether like a Tibetan monk's tulpa, here to save his life. He should be ruminating on his brush with death, yet the only thing on his mind right now was how fucking hot she looked holding a gun. Should he be disturbed by that? Priorities were never Logan's strong suit.

But he needed to be angry with her. It was the only thing that kept him from crumbling over the past few years. He had a crater in his heart where she used to exist and he had to fill it with something. It sure as hell wasn't going to be love, he was done with all that once she left town.

He lightly slapped the uninjured side of his face a few times.

Veronica looked upon him with bemusement. "I'm sorry. Are we boring you here, Logan?"

"Nope. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming this. You're like this hybrid between a GI Joe doll and Malibu Barbie?" he said with admiration, while desperately trying to squelch the lust that was tugging at his loins.

Her brow furrowed in thought. "Really? I always felt more like Skipper."

"Vee. Are you in there?" Weevil called from outside the door before bursting into the room with two cross-eyed, inbred-looking hotel security guards in tow.

The former gang-banger waved his gun around with confidence, but was stopped immediately by the site of the dead redhead lying in an ever-growing pool of blood by the window. "Maria," he mumbled in Spanish with a genuflect, taking in the gruesome sight. "You okay, Vee?"

"I'm fine." Veronica nodded and pointed to the cuffs Weevil had hanging from his belt loop. "Need those, though."

He knelt on the perp's back and leaned over to cuff his hands before noticing the gunman's injuries. "Twice cuata? Damn, girl, you ain't playin' around." He went for the man's ankles instead.

She shrugged innocently. "I like to be thorough."

"You break his nose too?" he asked with a smirk.

"No that was..." Her words trailed off as she cocked her head in Logan's direction.

Weevil followed her gaze and his expression dropped.

"Oh good, housekeeping is here." Logan clapped his hands together once. "Would you mind bringing us some more towels? As you can see, we've made a bit of a mess."

_Who's coming out of the wordwork next? Jimmy Hoffa? _

"What is this gran pendejo doing here?" he asked his partner with a groan.

Logan turned to Veronica and smiled. "Would you mind translating? My Spanglish is a bit rusty."

"Okay guys, if you want to trash talk, the Sharks and the Jets will be meeting under the 6th street bridge at noon. Save it for the rumble," she said with exasperation.

The hitman's moans grew louder, and her foot began to tap nervously in response. "Did Thing 1 & Thing 2 call a bus for this guy yet or what?"

Logan looked at the gormless security guards with repulsion. "Pretty sure you can't dial a phone with webbed hands."

"I gave your dad a call from the road and he's gonna send one," Weevil said.

"Good. I don't think I hit anything vital, but he is losing blood," she said, assessing the man's wounds.

He dug in the man's pockets and pulled out his wallet.

Logan stroked his chin. "Picking his pockets, Weevil? Nice to see you're keeping your gangland skills sharp."

Weevil stood up in a huff. "I'm keeping all my skills sharp, Echolls, so watch your step." He flipped open the wallet. "Evgeny Mokolov. Who hired you, comrade?"

The man shook his head. "Lawyer."

Veronica sighed. "Every hitman worth their salt knows their Mirandas."

"I'm gonna guess we won't be needing medical care for that one," Weevil asked, pointing to the dead woman. He shook his head and lamented. "Man, what a waste of a great rack."

"That, it was," Logan concurred.

A set of ice blue eyes rolled in their sockets. "Well, I'm glad you two finally found a cause you could come together on."

_It's not the only one. There's also you._

* * *

Keith looked down at Logan and smiled in a paternal way. Logan had seen that smile a few times before, usually after he'd saved Veronica's life, but in the recent past he'd earned it for other non Veronica-related reasons.

He pointed with his pen to the gash on Logan's face. "That might need stitches. Always got to be where the action is, eh Logan?" the sheriff asked, his smile slowly morphing into a playful smirk.

"You know me. 'Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I just beat people up'," Logan said as he kicked an imaginary soccer ball across the floor.

_Good thing my therapist isn't around to hear that one._

Keith's pen hovered over the pad of paper. "Cribbing from Muhammad Ali now? I guess it's appropriate, all things considered."

Logan crossed his arms protectively over his chest. "Well, seeing as The Neptune Grand appears to be my own personal 'Final Destination', I figured that now is as good a time as any for giving myself an existential pep talk."

"I'm going to need to ask you a few questions about this evening," he said.

"Well, as you know, this ain't my first trip to the rodeo, so you may as well skip ahead to the good stuff." Logan flopped down onto the edge of the bed. "You don't mind, right?"

Keith shook his head. "How did you know Mrs. Sorokin?"

_Mrs. Who?_

Logan felt his stomach lurch and he took a moment to process the question. "What name did you say?" He rose from the bed again.

"Sorokin," Keith repeated pointedly. "I'll assume you don't need me to spell that one out for you."

_Considering I've driven past his mailbox on numerous occasions throughout the years, I'd say that's a safe bet._

Both of Logan's hands found his head and he turned in a circle as the words began to penetrate his brain. "You're saying...?"

"That was Gorya Sorokin's wife," he said.

_Come on, genius. You know there's no way in hell that woman was anybody's wife._

Logan dropped his hands and laughed hysterically. From across the room, he could feel Veronica and Weevil's eyes on him. "That was _not_ Gory Sorokin's wife, Sheriff Mars. That was a hooker."

Veronica stopped speaking mid-sentence and looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

_Great. If there's anything Veronica loves most, it's talking about hookers._

"I didn't hire her!" Logan emphatically claimed, holding both hands aloft. "I met her at the bar downstairs, which I go to every Wednesday night with Dick Casablancas. Dick picked her up at the bar and brought her to our table, but then he got too wasted to do anything with her, so we booked him a suite here and put him to bed. He was really out of it and I wanted to make sure he got settled. She suggested I meet her afterward in her room for a drink. When I got to the room, she was already in her underwear, and throwing herself at me. After a few minutes I realized she was a prostitute."

Keith cocked an eyebrow.

Logan really wasn't enjoying this line of questioning. This was the last conversation he wanted to have in front of his ex. "The aggression and the lingerie were a dead giveaway. Plus, she had the practiced come-ons of a hooker. Unfortunately, it didn't really dawn on me until after I went to her room."

"Frequent a lot of prostitutes, do you?" Veronica asked without looking at him.

_Nice to know she still believes I would pay a hooker for sex._

"What do you think? Believe it or not, some women actually find me charming enough to give it away for free," he said, quickly turning his attention back to the sheriff before she could answer him back. "So, I called her out on it and then tried to leave, but she kept coming on to me and was practically begging me to stay."

"You didn't find that unusual?" Keith asked.

"Yeah, of course. Hookers usually don't have a vested interest in you beyond the cash, and I've been in the limelight long enough to know when I'm being set up. I figured she had a hidden camera or a photographer stashed somewhere," he said, looking over at the redhead's body, now covered with a sheet. "I really liked that hat."

"That's why you shut the blinds so suddenly," Veronica said in realization.

_You were watching me?_

His eyes widened. "So there _was _a photographer watching after all. I was wondering how you found me so fast, Ronnie," he said and wagged his finger at her.

Keith looked at Logan carefully and spoke slowly. "You're saying you never saw her before in your life?"

"That's what I'm saying. God, I'm not even into redheads. Obviously," he said, gesturing across the room to his ex.

_I did not mean to say that out loud._

"What did she say her name was?" he asked.

"She was Russian, said she was a model." Logan's hands found his head again and he paced the corner where he was standing. "Her name was...Ava...Ada...or...it was Ana! That's right. She told me her name was Anastasia. I remember that, because I made some tasteless remark about the slaughter of the Czar's family and strangely, she did not find it amusing."

Keith took notes diligently. "And you haven't heard from Gory at all?"

"Not since..." He stopped himself from finishing the sentence and swallowed the hard lump that was forming in his throat.

_Please Keith. You know we can't talk about this in front of her._

A few weeks after Veronica left town, Logan learned the hard way that when a hot-tempered kid with delusions of grandeur and a gangster daddy tells you that you're going to die, he isn't fucking around.

At 4pm on a Friday, just after his comparative literature summer class had ended, Logan was attacked in the middle of the quad in broad daylight by a Slavic stranger. One broken arm, a shattered kneecap, three broken ribs and 20 stitches later, and his debt to Gory Sorokin had been paid in full. For suffering an embarrassing public beatdown, the mafia scion had gotten his pound of flesh...and then some.

Two days after he entered the hospital, he regained consciousness. Two days after that, he received a visitor from the Urals, who told him that if he didn't put a muzzle on his bitch that she would be next.

Positive Veronica would go vigilante on their asses, Logan made Keith promise not to say anything to her. He figured she be safer that way.

The sheriff peered into Logan's face and a silent communication passed between them. "Got it," he said, then exhaled hard as though trying to rid himself of an awful memory.

* * *

Several hours later in the downstairs bar at The Neptune Grand, Keith, Weevil, Logan and Veronica kicked back with a bottle of tequila.

"If tonight got you spooked, you don't even want to know what I was doing when I was at the Bureau, dad," Veronica said.

_That makes two of us._

Keith looked at her pointedly. "I know _exactly_ some of the things you got up to at the FBI, or have you forgotten so quickly?"

She cleared her throat nervously. "No."

_What the hell is all that about?_

"Why couldn't you have gone into fashion, instead?" Keith asked, followed by an exaggerated sigh. "I'd probably still have all my hair."

"First of all, I'm calling B.S. on that hair thing - you were bald in my baby pictures; and second of all, that's sexist," she said, then took a small sip from her shot glass and winced.

It was cute that she was still a lightweight, though Logan hadn't seen her drink very many times after the night of Shelley's party, so he wouldn't really know to what extent.

"Okay fine. A blacksmith then." Keith decided, with a wave of the hand.

Veronica considered this for a minute. "Well, I do know how to work a chain mail vest like nobody's business..."

"...And we're back to fashion," Logan quipped, punctuating his thought with modified jazz hands.

She rolled her head to look at him. "You realize you can't go home Logan, right? At least not for tonight."

_Please let this be a proposition._

He placed a hand over his heart and gasped. "Veronica Mars, are you propositioning me? You haven't even taken me to dinner yet."

_Dammit, man! What the hell are you thinking, she's like a black hole. Step away from the edge._

"Come on, it's dangerous," she said.

_She still cares?_

He smiled, finding her warning quaint. "I'll be at my house if you need me," he mumbled through a yawn, then turned his gaze toward the window. There was only so much time he could sit next to her without getting that uneasy sensation he always had when he dreamed of falling.

"You don't still have a death wish, do you Echolls?" Weevil called out from the couch through cupped hands.

He turned around and looked down on the PI. "Mine or yours?"

Veronica hopped up and grabbed her ex-boyfriend by the arm. "Will you stop that please?" She pulled him off his chair and over to a private corner of the room.

"Stop what?" he asked innocently, trying not to be distracted by the feeling of her warm hand pressing against his skin. This was the first time they'd touched in years and he could feel his arm grow hot and tingly wherever her palm made contact. She was so close now. Too close. She still smelled just like 'Promises'.

"Stop being such a stupid..." She glanced quickly at her father to see if he was listening. "...stupid," she mumbled absentmindedly.

_God, she's cute when she's flustered._

"You want me to stop being such a stupid stupid?" he asked in deadpan. "I'll try, but no promises, Bobcat."

He could hear her breath catch at her old nickname.

_Bobcat? What the fuck has gotten into me? This won't have her running in the other direction or anything._

Logan wondered if there was a mind altering agent in the perfume 'Promises' and vowed to have it investigated once this whole _trying to kill him_ nastiness had ended.

He looked deep into her cerulean eyes and found that as usual, he wouldn't be strong enough to refuse her. "Where would you like me to stay?" he asked in earnest.

"Well, we rented a room for the stake-out. It's empty right now and paid through tomorrow, so you could always camp out there." She looked at him expectantly and he wondered why it seemed so important to her.

_Will you be joining me?_

He looked at her like she just suggested he move to Nebraska. "You want me to stay in a room that faces the room that I was almost killed in? That a woman actually _was_ killed in?"

"Nobody would be expecting you there. It would be the perfect hiding spot," she said, followed by some hand-wringing. He could sense how concerned she was.

Veronica was really adorable when she was nervous, especially since it was so rare. "What name is it under?"

She averted her eyes and shifted awkwardly on her feet. "It's under, um...Lillian Manning," she said in a small voice. "It's the name I always use when I book a room for a job."

_Huh._

A hint of a smile crossed Logan's lips as he rested his hand on her upper arm and squeezed gently. "It's a nice tribute, Ronnie."

The air felt thick between them and they had trouble maintaining eye contact. He dropped his hand back to his side and shoved it in his pocket.

_You always wondered what you'd do if you ever got the chance to see her again. Well here it is, brother. Go big or go home._

"Maybe you want to come up for a drink? We could catch up."

An unreadable emotion swept over her features. "Maybe."

_Okay..._

Loud, obviously fake coughing could be heard from the couch. "If you two kids are done flirting, we can wrap this thing up. I'd really like to get home to my chick while she's still in the mood," Weevil said, holding out his hand out to bump fists with Veronica and Keith. He then gave Logan a conciliatory nod. "Echolls. You got Vee's back, so you and me are good for tonight."

Logan returned the nod. "I can't wait to update my daily status on Facebook."

Weevil flicked him off as he walked out of the bar.

Keith wore a placid smile. "I've got a chick I'm quite eager to get home to as well."

"I'm right here, daddy!" Veronica waved her arms.

"And I couldn't be happier about that," he said before standing up to kiss his daughter on the side of the head.

"Say hi to Alicia and Darrell for me," she said.

"Will do." Keith ran his hand over his child's hair. "Where are you staying tonight? Can I expect you at home?" He gave her a pointed look, then gave Logan the side-eye and the young man's back stiffened.

_He really has a knack of making me feel like a teenager._

"I have a lot of work to do on this case. I figured I could interview Logan and then maybe crash on the spare bed in his room," she said, shyly looking to both men for approval.

_Hell. Yes._

Logan shrugged and looked off into the distance to avoid further scrutiny. He knew if either of the Mars looked directly into his eyes they'd discover an embarrassing amount of unbridled joy at this development.

Though clearly uncomfortable, Keith relented. "Stay safe, and don't do anything stupid," he said to his daughter, then raised a warning eyebrow in Logan's direction one more time for good measure before heading out. "That goes for you too, Logan!" he called out as he passed through the doors.

Logan gave Keith a salute as he left the bar. "Feels good to be trusted." He exhaled a deep breath.

She pouted and his stomach began to flutter. "Why does everybody keep warning me not to do something stupid? Is that my 'thing'? Do I have a 'thing'?" she asked him, placing her hand on a hip.

Logan walked backward so he could face her while answering. "You have a lot of 'things', Ronnie. I've already lost count."

She glanced at her watch and then surveyed the room. "Is this place still serving food? I'm starving."

"Of course you are," he said, laughing. "See? That's another one of your things. Maybe you should be taking notes?"

"That many, eh?" She slowed her gait to a shuffle and looked at the ground sheepishly. "I'm told another one of my things is running away from my problems."

_Did not see that one coming._

He looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "I'm too sober for this conversation, Veronica. Can we just get some food and go up to the room, first? Better yet, let's get room service."

She nodded pensively then tilted her head to the side. "Okay...but can we have it sent to a different room?"

As soon as he saw the head tilt, he knew she was up to no good - and he could tell that she knew that he knew.

_Man, I knew it was too easy. _

Wary of what she might have in store for them, he ran his hands through his hair and exhaled. "We're going to Dick's room, aren't we?" he asked, feeling beleaguered by her relentless energy.

It had been a while since he had a large dose of Veronica Mars, and he forgot how easily she could wear a guy out with her antics.

Great, now he was thinking about how easily she could wear him out in other ways. Logan frowned as it dawned on him that he used to have more stamina. Something will have to be done about that.

"Please, Logan? I'll be good, I promise."

_Ha._

"No, you won't," he shook his head and laughed.

"No, I won't," Veronica admitted with a shrug. "But come on, it'll be fun to watch._ That_ is something I can actually promise," she said with a wink.

He made her wait for a moment, but he knew he'd given in, and she knew it too. He always gave in. "Lead on, Bobcat."

* * *

**A/N - What did you think? How's the pacing? Please don't be shy with the reviews, I thrive on them. You don't have to register to leave a review, anyone can leave one. Hope to hear from you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Both Logan and Veronica POVs in this chapter. It should be easy to figure out which is which.**

* * *

Previously: Keith interrogated Logan and learned that the redhead was a hooker and not Gory's wife. Logan was at the hotel bar with Dick when she approached them, then roofied Dick to get Logan alone. Veronica convinced Logan to stay at the Grand for the night, and decided to stay with him for protection. She decided to interview Dick.

* * *

**CHAPTER 3**

In a darkened hotel room, Logan watched Veronica kneel at Dick's bedside and pinch down hard on his nose to force his mouth open.

The scent of vomit and too-shelf tequila clung to the air like a humid, Miami summer night, making the act of simply being around Dick - much less probing his mouth - an arduous task.

Once Veronica had access, she pulled a small packet of what looked like blotting papers out of her back pocket and awkwardly tore one off using just one hand.

_I can honestly say this is not how I saw my Wednesday night playing out. And they say spontaneity is dead_.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she wiped one of the papers over the top of Dick's tongue, stirring him from his sleep. His eyes shot open for a second and then promptly slammed shut again, like a peep show window once the money runs out.

"Dare I ask?" Logan asked as she placed the paper on the side table and retrieved a small vial of liquid from her bag.

Veronica hesitated. "It's litmus paper. It tests for the presence of ten different kinds of drugs – like Rohypnol, X and GHB." She cleared her throat, a reflex he knew kicked in whenever she got uncomfortable. "You can do a urine test on him with it too, but I'm not volunteering for that."

Using the dropper, she carefully released three drops onto the paper and watched intently.

Logan crouched down next to her and his shoulder brushed up against hers. "What happens next? If it's positive, do you think his dad will make you marry him?"

_Fuck, she smells good. Of course she does, Logan, you don't expect the universe to suddenly start throwing you bones this late in life, do you?_

"Good God!" She turned to look at him and grimaced. "Don't bring up being married to Dick when we're about to eat, Logan."

He tipped an imaginary hat to her. "Sorry."

Their faces were only inches apart. "If it's positive, the paper will turn pink."

I _wonder if her lips taste the same..._

After all these years, she was still (literally) carrying around baggage from that night at Shelley Pomeroy's house. Her eyes appeared so lost that he felt his chest tighten. "Do you keep this stuff on you all the time?"

"Yeah," she whispered and nodded almost imperceptibly.

A look of understanding passed between them and Veronica turned away to check the results. "It's pink. Should we flip a coin to see which one of us gets to wake Dick and tell him he's been roofied?"

"I would hate to rob you of one of life's little pleasures," he said, gesturing with his hand for her to take the honors.

_...and I would also pay good money to see you deliver this news to him_.

She made a serious face and pointed a finger at him. "Don't let anybody ever tell you you're not a gentleman, Logan Echolls."

Veronica leaned in toward Dick's face and tickled him under the chin with her finger. "Oh Dick..." she cooed lovingly. "Wake up, Dick...wakey-wakey...DICK!"

The final prompt did the trick and the blonde man's eyes flipped open in shock. "AHHHHHH!" Dick shrieked at top volume as he registered the woman in front of him.

Logan laughed his ass off, holding onto Veronica's shoulder to keep from toppling over.

"AHHHHHH!" Dick shrieked again. "Am I dead?"

_How much shit did the hooker dose the big guy with, anyway?_

Brown eyes narrowed with confusion. "What? No, man. You've just been roofied."

"Then what's she doing here?" he asked, pointing to Veronica. "You said she was dead!"

"You told him I was dead?" she asked with incredulity. Dick cowered in fear beneath the comforter.

"No, I said you 'might as well be dead'," Logan said before turning to address his friend. "That's not the same thing, Dick."

_This should be fun to explain to her later_.

Her eyes widened. "I'm betting you wouldn't have been complaining about me unless you cared, so I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment."

_There's seriously any doubt that I care?_

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not how he meant it, Ronnie!" Dick yelled from underneath the safety of his thousand thread count duvet. "Are you seeing her too, Logan, or is this just part of the ride?"

Logan yanked the duvet off of his buddy's head and threw it on the ground. "Dude! She's not a ghost, but some serious shit went down tonight, so you need to get it together."

Dick emerged from the flat sheet and pulled himself up to sit with a frown.

"Remember that chick you picked up at the bar tonight?" Logan asked.

He nodded. "How could I forget a chick with tits like that?" Dick's eyes quickly darted to Veronica, who was sitting beside him. "Not that yours aren't great too, Ronnie. I mean, they're kind of small, but you know, they're still rockin' that featherweight division."

_Stop talking, Dick. If you know what's good for you._

"I think I'm going to be sick." She closed her eyes and regained composure then smiled brightly at the moron in front of her. "As flattering a sentiment as that is, Dick, I need to know everything this woman said to you tonight."

He scratched his head. "Yeah, you know, I'd love to help you and all, but I can't remember much, because she fucking ROOFIED me! Who does that?!"

_Shut up, douchebag! If you care about your safety at all, man!_

Veronica started to percolate with rage and Logan seriously contemplated running for cover. She placed a hand over her heart and spoke to the blonde man in a dulcet tone. "You poor thing. Somebody drugged your drink? I can't imagine how you must feel."

He could practically hear the gears whirring in Dick's mind as he processed her words. "Ronnie, I'm glad this happened, because now I know what you must have gone through that night at Shelley's house," he said with complete seriousness. "I know what it feels like to be violated now."

_Oh God. There has to be a bomb shelter around here somewhere...a sturdy desk...anything!_

Her mouth settled into a flat line and he thought for a moment she must be having one of those white flashes that some stroke victims experience right before their aneurysm bursts. "Sure you do. Now, if only I could force you to make out with Logan and then shove you into a room with my sociopathic younger brother and goad him into raping you. Then we could really be like twins!"

_If I don't slap him right now, she's going to tase him._

"Dude!" Logan spat and slapped the back of his friend's head.

"Ow, man. That was totally uncalled for." Dick pouted. "Did that hot redhead really drugged me? Did she take advantage of me, too?" he asked, modestly pulling the covers up to his chin. "Man, that is so not cool. I could kill her!"

Logan smirked. "You're a little late to the game on that one, my friend."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Uh...did you not notice the bloody gash on my face?" he asked. "How do you thing I came about getting it?"

Dick looked at Veronica and then back at Logan.

"I did not hit him, Dick!" she cried in offense.

He held his hands up. "I don't know Veronica, you can be hella feisty sometimes. I've seen you tase men twice your size."

She rolled her eyes. "A big Russian hitman took a shot at Logan and the woman was caught in the crossfire. Then Logan threw a few punches at him. That's the gist of it."

Dick's eyes grew huge. "Holy crap! She's dead? Like _dead_ dead?"

"Is there any other kind?" she deadpanned.

Dick looked uncharacteristically contemplative. "Guess I got the sweeter end of the deal getting roofied. How'd you get away?"

Logan looked admiringly at Veronica. "Ronnie shot him. Twice."

"Aw, Yeah!" Dick erupted with a fist pump, then mused quietly. "I've always wanted to shoot somebody."

"You could always shoot yourself," Veronica suggested helpfully.

"I see what you did there. Very clever." He laughed genuinely at her insult. "What are you doing here anyway, Ronnie? You've been gone for like – what – ten, fifteen years?"

"Five," Logan corrected.

"Dick, I'm tired. I've been choked, kicked in the chest, and I am freaking starving, so you need to focus on my questions or I can't be responsible for my actions. As you mentioned, I can be feisty."

"You have my undivided attention," he said, batting his eyelashes at her for good measure.

Veronica sighed indulgently.

Dick was an idiot and yet impossible to loathe. He was probably the most morally bankrupt person under the age of 30, but something about the dumb schmuck always made people look the other way when it came to many his transgressions.

"Were you all drinking the same thing?" she asked.

A broad smile crept across Dick's face. "Casa Noble and Dos Equis."

"And you were the only one who felt sick?"

"Unless that's somebody else's puke all over my bathroom," he said with a shrug.

_Dick Casablancas - keepin' it classy since 2003._

Veronica recoiled and Logan's hand settled on her shoulder. He could feel her muscles tense under his palm.

She put a finger to her pursed lips. "Did she mention any personal details about herself? Like what town she was from or where she lived?"

"She was Ukrainian At least, that's what she claimed," Logan said, purposely aiming his warm breath on the back of her neck, satisfied when he noticed her break out into a rash of goosebumps.

Even though he was perched slightly behind her, he could smell her everywhere and it was intoxicating. He could always tell when she had been in a room, even if she'd already left.

"Um...was she staying at the hotel?" Veronica asked.

"Not this one. She went down to book a room when I was helping Dick get to bed," Logan said.

"She has an apartment. Or _had_, I should say," Dick said, piping in. "I remember because the cross streets she told me were the same as the building that you used to live in, Ronnie."

Her face scrunched up. "Really? My old apartment complex? Are you positive?"

"Gross pool? Check. Black lady with one leg who sits in a beach chair next the mailboxes all day? Check-check. Your dad's awesome police logo doormat? Checkity-check-check. Plus, I remember it from when I dropped a flaming bag of dog poo off outside your door junior year. So yeah, I'm 100% sure."

_As disgusting at the Sunset Cliffs apartment complex is, it's the only other place I've ever felt at home, besides the Kane's_.

Veronica ignored the extra commentary and moved on. "Did she mention any roommates?"

Dick nodded and his grin expanded. "Oh yeah. She told me if I was a good boy, that she'd bring me home with her afterward and then she and her roommate would..."

"Ugh, seriously? No. Not everything in that pea brain of yours needs to be shared." She waved her hands in front of his face to make him stop talking.

There was a knock at the door and Veronica instinctively went for her gun, then stood next to the door jam. "Who is it?"

_Every time she pulls out that gun, I get a little hard._

"Room service!" the person on the other side called out.

She nodded at Logan and he opened the door slowly, then smiled broadly at the person on the other side. "Hey, man." He reached his hand out and did one of those elaborate handshakes white guys always do to make themselves feel cooler.

Veronica peered around the corner and subtly expelled disappointment. "Ratner," she said crisply with a nod, then replaced her gun in the holster.

_I forgot how much these two always adored one another_.

"Veronica Mars," Ratner spat in turn. He looked disappointed as well. "You're back?"

"Looks that way," she said.

"And packing heat, I see," he noted, completely unfazed by her weapon, "though I guess if anybody needs to protect themselves, it's you. You've pissed off a lot of people around here." Her old classmate smiled insincerely.

"Yeah. Gotta be prepared. Never know what psycho is gonna show up at my door," she said, grinning back. "So...this is what you're still doing? I would've figured you for law enforcement or criminal law."

"Didn't really feel like being the only Jewish cop in a 100 mile radius. I'm working my way through law school though, if you must know. You've got me. Guess all that FBI profiling you learned really works," he said, drolly.

Dick signed for the food and looked at Logan quizzically. "Hey, are you guys throwing a party in this room later or something? I mean, there's, like, dinosaur bones in the middle of the bedroom."

Both Logan and Veronica started laughing.

He dipped his head to look her in the face. "You ordered a full rack of beef ribs? They're bigger than _your_ ribs."

_Is it wrong that I'd rather get my mouth around her ribs than those bad boys?_

His pulse began to quicken at her close proximity. God, did he want to kiss her. That, and all the stuff that comes after it. He reminded himself sternly that he was still pissed at her.

"On that note..." Ratner left without another word.

"I need to protein-load. I'm going to need my energy for when we go talk to the dead whore's roommate tomorrow," she explained, in a voice that was way too perky for the subject matter.

"That's really not going to require much energy. Not if she's as captivating as her roommate was," he said, unable to hide his amusement.

"Well, tonight I was planning on visiting an old friend," she said evasively, as she opened the door to the closet.

_Wait a minute...I know how this old song goes_.

Logan skipped in front of her to cut her off, then backed up, blocking her as she walked toward the food. "Which old friend?"

She attempted but failed to walk around him. "You're certainly a Nosy Nelly."

He let out a puff of air. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I got shot at today. The nerve of me for asking about the investigation."

She hesitated. "It's better you don't know."

He laughed. "Waving a red flag in front of my face isn't going to get you solitude."

She kept her silence and worried her bottom lip.

His face tightened. "Spill it, Veronica. I'm not some delicate flower."

"Oh, I don't know, you'll always be my ramblin' rose," she said sweetly in a Southern accent, as her fingers trailed the valley of his chest, leaving him tingling wherever she made contact.

_Fuck. I am a weak sonofabitch when it comes to her._

He shrugged off her attempt to distract him. "Okay. I see I'm going to have to hit you where it hurts." He grabbed the ribs and held them high above his head. "Tell me or Dino gets it."

"Logan!" she shouted with a frown. "You wouldn't..."

"I _so_ would." He smirked and did a fake-out throw, which made her heart lurch.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you, but I don't want you freaking out and getting all Logan-y about it. I can take care of myself," she said.

"Who?" he asked, stony-faced.

"Gory Sorokin." She closed her eyes and braced for the fallout.

_Shit_.

Logan set the ribs down on the tray and leaned his arm on the wall nearest to her. "Like hell you are."

* * *

Veronica hopped out of Logan's canary yellow FJ Cruiser and slammed the car door.

He chased after her, latching onto her arm to pull her to a stop. "Wait."

"Logan, I know you're worried, but I've done this before, remember?" Veronica asked.

"I remember you getting slammed onto a pool table at the River Styx," he said.

_Of course he would bring this up_.

She frowned. "Yeah...well, I'm better trained now. It's going to be fine. Piece of cake."

"A piece of cake, like when Mercer almost raped you and partially shaved your head, or like when Beaver tried to make you jump off the roof of the Grand?" Logan asked.

_No, he did not just fucking mention Cassidy to me_.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Okay fine, I get it. You're my hero," she said in a breathy voice.

"I want to go in there with you."

"I know you do, but unless you're having short-term memory loss, he may have tried to have you whacked tonight. Probably not best for you to go snooping in the belly of the beast," she said.

"Maybe I could be just hang out around the corner then?" Logan suggested.

She considered it and then shook her head, her pigtails flapped against her neck. "Too risky."

He grabbed one pigtail in each hand to make her head stop moving and she held her breath. "_Try_ not to piss people off for once, Veronica. I just got you back, I don't need to lose you all over again, at least not before I've made you pay for your sins."

_He didn't just say that I came back, he said that HE got me back. He wanted me back? Is it wrong that I'm kind of getting hot thinking of ways he could make me 'pay' for my sins?_

"You want to keep me alive just to punish me?" she asked, then swallowed thickly and tried to keep her bearings.

"For starters," he said, then planted a soft kiss on her forehead and released her hair.

_Oh...hell. _

Her breathing grew ragged and she struggled to recover from their contact. She hoped he couldn't see how affected she was, but that seemed impossible considering she was blushing from head to toe. "See ya on the flip side, Echolls."

"If you need me, just whistle. You know how to whistle don't you?" He winked and her stomach did a flip-flop.

_Sexy motherfucker_.

* * *

Veronica looked around the perimeter of the mansion and tried to figure out the best way to gain access. She thought about climbing the fence, but there were doberman's on the other side and they did not look well-fed or friendly. Maybe she could try something novel like ringing the doorbell?

She walked over the the gate and pressed the intercom. It took a few minutes, but eventually a voice answered the bell.

"Hello?" a Russian-accented voice spoke.

"Yes, I'm here to see Gory. We're old friends from Hearst," she said in her most saccharine voice.

"It's late. He knows you're coming?" the voice asked.

"Um, no...it's kind of a surprise. We haven't seen each other in five years," she said.

The flood light next to the intercom turned on and blinded her. She waved girlishly to the camera and smiled.

"Fine."

The buzzer sounded, unlocking the gate and she walked right through.

_The direct approach worked! How unorthodox_!

* * *

As Veronica made her way up the long, gravel, walkway, she thought about Logan sitting in his car, unprotected. She hoped he was keeping guard. The thought of something happening to him made her insides ache. It's odd, for five years she thought about him from afar - she was worried about him always, but not intensively so. However, the moment she laid eyes on him tonight and saw him in the flesh about to get his head blown off, it was like somebody clamped a vice on her heart. She was petrified for him.

Before she even reached the end of the walkway the door opened, revealing a shirtless Gory, lounging against the door frame like Caligula at a Roman bath house.

_God, does this guy ever out on a shirt_?

Gory stroked his chin as he surveyed her and smiled with intent. "Veronica Mars, it's been a while. I almost didn't recognize you with all your clothes on."

_Ditto_!

"That's funny, I almost didn't recognize you without Logan Echoll's fist in your face," she snapped.

At the mention of Logan's name his smile got brighter. "Ah, Mr. Echolls. If anybody would know about getting a fist to the face it would be him."

_Excuse me?_

Something about the way Gory was looking at her made her feel uneasy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you don't know? It's nice you two still have little things to surprise each other with after all these years," he said through hearty laughter. "Oh, look at my manners. Would you like to come inside?" he asked with an outstretched hand and a lascivious grin.

_Not on your life._

She felt like Persephone being invited into the underworld by Hades.

"I'm good out here, thanks. I could use the fresh air," she said.

_Why am I even bothering to make excuses to this guy? It's not as if he expects me to come in for tea. _

Veronica's hands balled into fists at her sides. "So...what happened to Logan?"

"The question is more like, 'what didn't happen to Logan?'. Two weeks in the hospital is a long fucking time, right?" He sighed with mock empathy.

_What? WHAT? Stay calm._

"What did you do?" she asked quietly, knowing full well she was going to hate any answer she was given.

"Me? I did nothing, though I did hear he got worked over pretty well by a Ukrainian thug. Crime these days, am I right?" he said and cracked his knuckles.

_Why didn't Logan say anything! Why didn't he call me?_

Veronica narrowed her eyes and stuffed her fear down like the last item of trash in an overfilled bin. "The problem was between us, Gory, it didn't involve Logan."

He shook his head in disagreement. "It involved him the moment he sucker punched me in public. Did you think I would let him actually walk away from that?"

Her brow furrowed. "What I don't get, is if you say you messed him up so badly before, why bother sending out a hit man to finish the job years later? Talk about beating a dead horse."

"What are you babbling on about?" he asked.

"A Ukrainian thug tried to kill Logan tonight," she said, examining his face for a glimmer of recognition, but Gory seemed thoroughly confused. "Pretty sure he worked for the mob as a hitman."

He leaned into her with a smug smile plastered on his face. "Are you implying I'm connected?"

_YOU implied you were connected, many times and to many people at Hearst!_

"If the valenki fits..."

"Look sweetheart, assuming I was connected, I wouldn't waste my resources on a maggot like Logan Echolls. He already paid his debt, and believe me, it was steep," he said, gloating.

She was starting to believe him. Crap. What now? "Then why did you hire Mars Investigations to trail your wife?"

"I'm not married," he said simply. "I never hired you."

_Something doesn't smell exactly right..._

Her brows knit. "You're telling me you didn't order the hit on Logan last night at the Neptune Grand?"

He shook his head. "Looks like your boy is good at pissing people off."

She exhaled. "Yeah, well, that's nothing new."

Gory shifted his weight and looked her in the eye. "Hey, if there's some guy running around town pretending to be me, I wanna know who he is."

Her eyes opened wide in surprise. "Are you asking me to find out for you?"

He shrugged. "I'll make it worth your while."

Should she take the job? She definitely didn't feel like palling around with Gory any more than she had to, but Machiavelli wasn't wrong when he said to 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'.

_May as well get paid to snoop through his life. It was going to happen anyway_.

"I'll do it. You can drop by my office tomorrow and sign some papers."

"You can have them sent here," he countered.

_Right. I forgot you always need to be the 'alpha'. Have it your way._

She nodded in agreement. "Well, I wish I could say it's been a pleasure."

He creepy smile returned once again. "Maybe it can be? I've been an admirer of your work for quite some time now," he said, rubbing a hand across his bare chest.

Disgusted, she turned to leave.

"Call me!" he said sarcastically as he watched her leave.

* * *

A wave of relief washed over Logan's features as he pushed himself off the RJ Cruiser to meet Veronica. "Color me shocked. Veronica Mars lives to annoy another day."

She smiled at him and did a little twirl to show off. "See? I can be nice if I want to be."

_That's debatable._

"The trouble is, you rarely want to be," he said and then touched the tip of her nose. "Did you talk to Gory?"

_They have to make up a new word for the level of hate I feel for that guy._

She nodded. "He had no idea what I was talking about. In fact, he even hired me to find out who is impersonating him."

"Do you think he did that to throw you off the scent?" he asked.

"No, Gory's not one to downplay his accomplishments," she said. "Which reminds me...were you ever planning on telling me that he had you beaten within an inch of your life?"

_Great. I guess I should have figured it would come out here. Like she says, Gory loves to stroke his own ego_.

Logan exhaled and leaned against his car once more. "Well, as soon as they un-wired my jaw I tried to call you, but darnit, you just didn't pick up the phone. I would have snail mailed you, but you didn't leave a forwarding address. At least, not to me."

Veronica swallowed hard and looked at the ground in shame. "I - I'm really sorry, Logan."

_At least she has the decency to pretend to be upset. I'll assume it's pretend, because if she truly cared, she would have fucking called me. Thank goodness for small favors_.

He nodded, almost to himself. "Yeah."

She grabbed one of his hands and toyed with his fingers anxiously. "If I had known...I would never have left you alone to deal with something like that. You know that."

_Don't touch me. I can never think rationally when you're this close_.

Logan looked up and her with hurt in his eyes and pulled his hand away. "Except you did." He jerked open the driver's side door and hopped inside.

**A/N – Are you surprised to see Gory? Was Dick in-character? Let me know what you think! Please please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**You guy have been so enthusiastic and awesome with your reviews! I feel like it's my birthday whenever my phone buzzes with another alert. Please continue! Hope this story continues to keep your interest. Pardon any typos - I am bleary-eyed and beta-free but determined to give you all frequent updates!**

**FYI - This chapter is slightly M-ish. **

* * *

Previously: Dick tested positive for roofies. Veronica interrogated him about the redheaded, Ukrainian hooker and discovered she lived in Veronica's old building. Veronica decided to visit Gory Sorokin and interview him herself. Gory denied involvement in Logan's assassination attempt and told Veronica he wanted to hire her to find out who used his name to hire her. He also hinted that he had Logan severely beaten just after she left town. She confronted Logan about the beating and he became chilly toward her, suddenly reminded of her abandonment of him.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

Logan walked briskly from the car to the back entrance of the Neptune Grand Hotel, leaving Veronica scrambling to catch up with him. He knocked out a complicated pattern on the back door and it opened slowly, with Ratner waving him inside.

Without double checking, Logan activated the car alarm over his shoulder before stepping inside, nearly leaving the door to slam shut in Veronica's face.

_Okay...seems somebody forgot their manners back at Chez Sorokin._

"Trouble in paradise?" Ratner asked Veronica, with a poorly concealed smirk.

"Live vicariously much?" she muttered back under her breath, as she followed Logan's long strides through the bowels of the hotel.

Ratner rolled his eyes. "Never through your life, Veronica Mars. You can go ahead and keep those memories all to yourself."

"He has a point," Logan said.

_Like you're one to talk!_

The part-time concierge pulled his retractable key ring from his belt and unlocked the freight elevator.

Logan still refused to look at Veronica while they waited.

"Are you...is there something I've done that I'm not aware of?" she asked him in a whisper, before shooting a glance at Ratner, who was pretending not to listen.

"Oh you're aware of it, Veronica," he said with fatigue, leaning sideways into the elevator wall as he drew shapes on one of the cushioned moving-in pads with an index finger. He obviously didn't feel like talking, he wouldn't even look at her, but she knew he wouldn't be able to get any sleep until he got everything off of his chest. In that way, they couldn't be more different.

Her hands fretted anxiously in her pockets. She could always tell when he was truly furious, as opposed to the times when he was just acting out. He was a known 'drama king', which is why she found his current silence so deafening.

* * *

Logan focused on the wall, letting his fingertips drift lazily over the stitching of the padded elevator walls. It had been years since he'd used the service elevator, years since he'd stayed overnight at the hotel. It was too painful for him to continue sleeping in the same bed that Veronica Mars once helped warm.

Once he came home from the hospital and realized she really had no intention of ever returning to Neptune, even after he had been so injured, he couldn't bear to stay in that room any longer. It only reminded him that he once had everything he had ever wanted, and then lost it all due to a lack of self-control.

_Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Elation, Depression and Deja vu. Those were the six stages of Veronica Mars._

_Denial_: Of course, she had run away before for a few days here and there, but she always returned in the past. It was inconceivable to think she'd leave her entire life behind in Neptune for a new one away from her dad. Away from him. They may not have been in the best place when she left, but in his mind, they were always together. To him, those periods of 'off-time' that punctuated their relationship were just that – off. Even the last five years had been an 'off' time, since he always believed she'd come back to him. The feeling never wavered.

_Step 1: Anger -_ The more he loved her, the angrier he got each time she did something dangerous, rejected him or judged him without all the facts. There were times he was so mad he could only walk away at the mention of her name. For a few months, he hated her like he did their junior year in high school – and just like then, his hatred also wouldn't stick. How do you hate the only thing you've ever truly loved?

_Step 2: Bargaining – _Whether he was literally bargaining for information on her whereabouts, or bargaining with himself or God, he would have done anything – would still do anything – to have her back in his life. As much as he enjoyed the trappings of his wealth, he'd give it all up in a heartbeat to eat beans from a tin - as long as it meant he would be doing it with _her._

_Step 3: Elation -_ The moment their hands touched over her gun, the past five years fell away in the blink of an eye. She was there, in front of him, and he finally felt whole again. Every time they found their way back to one another, it was the same. None of those times compared to tonight though, except maybe that first moment their lips touched in the second floor hallways of the Camelot Motel.

_Step 4: Depression - _While she was gone, he had been arrested for a few drunk & disorderlies, but Keith always let him go. The sheriff said he understood what the young man was trying to do by residing at the bottom of a tequila bottle, but he didn't approve. He told him Veronica wouldn't approve. Logan knew deep down that all the tequila in the world wouldn't erase her from his thoughts.

_Step 5: Deja vu -_ It's a strange feeling knowing your entire happiness rests on the shoulders of a mercurial blonde with high expectations and trust issues. Try as he might, he would never live up to her standards, they both knew this. Part of him resented her for always placing the bar too high, just out of his reach. Another part of him was glad though, that somebody had enough faith in him to believe he was even capable of greatness. His father certainly never felt that way about him. Every time it was over and every time she took him back, he knew it wouldn't be the last time they lived through this cycle. He knew it was only a matter of time before he'd find himself right back on Step 1.

* * *

Logan and Veronica cycled their way through the vast corridors of the Grand, to get to their room. It had only been hours ago that he had walked through these hallways himself, on his way to have a drink with a woman who unknowingly drugged his friend to get him alone.

"Oni ne sushchestvuyut!"

Logan stopped short and Veronica walked into him from behind. He turned to her with a finger against his lips and pointed for them to walk back the way they came.

Noticing an electrical closet, he opened the door and pulled her inside with him.

The closet was pitch black and so tiny it nearly forced them into an embrace. They were silent, except for the shallow breathing he heard as it tickled his chest.

_A few hours ago this would have thrilled me. Of course, that was before the high of he being here wore off and the hangover set in._

"If you wanted to get me alone in a dark room, all you had to do was buy me a drink," she whispered.

_Your charm isn't getting you out of this one, Bobcat._

"I heard a man leaving our room. He was speaking in Russian, which means there are at least two of them out there," he said, making an educated guess.

She leaned the top of her head into his chest and his heartbeat speed up. He was sure she must be hearing it too, loud and clear like a snare drum.

"I'm surprised you didn't leave me out there to get whacked," she said in a low voice.

_Right, because everybody knows how unconcerned I've always been about your safety._

Every word that left her lips felt like a jackhammer to the heart. He loved her more than his own life. How could she even joke about that?

Logan pulled Veronica against his chest and held her body tightly to him. "Why would you even say something that stupid?"

"I thought you hated me," Veronica whispered into his sternum. He could hear the relief in her voice. Maybe she still did love him, after all?

He rested his chin on the top of her head. "Come on Veronica, you know I could never hate you. I might want to murder you sometimes, but that's all part of the foreplay." He intended on sounding laid back and confident, but his voice wavered embarrassingly.

_Way to appear confident._

"You hated me in high school," she said, pointing out the flaw in his claim.

She always did that, she was worse than a lawyer.

"That wasn't hate, that was sexual frustration," Logan admitted.

He could practically see her rolling her eyes through the darkness. "That's probably the only area of your life you've never been frustrated, Logan. Does anybody say no to you?"

"You did," he said.

"But then I said yes," she reminded him.

"And then you left."

_Gotcha._

Veronica wrapped her arms around him tighter. "You're really mad at me right now."

He didn't respond. She was right, he was pissed off, regardless of how badly he wanted to be over it. What the hell did she want him to say? One thing he'd never do is lie to her. It would be like lying to himself, and he was way too self-critical for that.

"Feel free to jump in at any time," Veronica said with a forced laugh.

Logan pulled away from her and rested his hands on her hips, creating some distance between them. "Yeah, I'm mad. I mean, what did you expect? You just left me and vanished."

"It wasn't just you I left, I left everybody," she said. "Mac and Wallace..."

Logan shook his head. "You didn't leave Mac and Wallace, you left _me_."

"I wasn't even dating you!" Veronica whispered a little too loudly.

_As if I could forget._

She cleared her throat and rested a hand on his chest. "Piz is the one who should really be mad at me."

"Piz is nothing," he said, his eyes seeking her reaction through the dark of the closet.

It wasn't a swipe at Piz. Logan didn't care enough about Piz to bother slighting him. He needed her to know that no matter how much time had passed, no matter where they had been or who they had been with, in the end, it would always be them. He also needed her to prove to him that he hasn't been deluding himself all these years.

___'Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed, epic.' It amazing how everything can come back to you when you push through the wall of alcohol._

She placed both hands flat on his chest and he wondered if she could feel his heartbeat fighting to tear it's way through it.

"Veronica" he pleaded weakly, leaning his forehead against hers. "Come on..."

She nodded against him. "Piz is nothing."

_Thank God._

Like the world's most soothing balm, Logan let Veronica's words wash over him, and he was pulled back in faster than you could say 'Step 1'.

He rubbed his hand roughly over his tired-looking features. "Why did you leave?"

She let her palms slide down and off of his body. "You know why."

"Then at least tell me why you're back," he said.

Veronica let out a long breath and pulled away. "Not here."

"Davay!" Somebody screamed out as two sets of heavy footsteps clomped their way down the hallway.

They clung to each other tightly as they both held their breath and waited for the Russians to pass. As the two foreigners walked past the electrical closet, one of them paused and placed his hand on the doorknob, rattling it a little. Finding it locked, he gave up and followed his partner out of the building.

"You locked it behind us?" she asked, clearly impressed by his foresight.

"After being walked in on by various mothers and roommates, one gets in the habit," he said, then slowly cracked the door open to check for a clear path. "Well. I haven't felt this popular with Neptune's underbelly since Felix Toombs got shanked," he said with a smile. "Nice to know I've still got it."

"That's not funny."

He shrugged. "It's a little funny."

Logan opened the the door and waved Veronica through, like a gentleman. "After you, Ms. Manning."

* * *

Veronica approached their room and found the door left ajar. She grabbed her gun and slowly went into the room, checking behind doors and closets along the way. When she cleared it for safety, she motioned for Logan to join her inside.

"Happiness is a warm gun..." Logan mumbled as he watched her put her gun back into the holster.

"Yes it is." She tilted her head and smiled. "You hungry?"

"No, but I'm going to assume this means you are." Logan flopped onto his back on the bed.

She approached him apprehensively and perched herself on the edge of the mattress.

He picked his head up to look at her. "You can sit closer, Veronica, I don't bite...well, not until I'm asked."

_Put that image out of your mind, Veronica._

"So, a weird thing happened when I was talking to Gory," she started, timidly.

"He wasn't a scumbag?" he asked with complete seriousness.

She shifted closer to him. "Fret not, Logan, he's still a scumbag. However, he's a scumbag who wants to hire me to figure out who's impersonating him."

Logan smiled widely and fell back onto the mattress. "You're cute."

Veronica narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You really think Gory Sorokin needs to hire you to find that out?" he asked through his laughter.

"I happen to be good at what I do, Logan," she said, leaning over him. Finding herself irritated, she grabbed his face to make him look at her. "You think he's doing this to try to get in my pants?"

Logan grinned mischievously. "I would."

Veronica swallowed hard and forced herself to maintain eye contact with him.

_Don't let him get the upper hand. You need to control this or you'll lose your mind. You always do._

She flashed him a smirk that fell away from her face as quickly as it appeared. "You wouldn't have to."

His mouth dropped open slightly and they locked eyes.

_Just do it! You've been thinking about it since the moment you saw him. That's a lie. You've been thinking about it for the last five years._

Before he had a chance to contemplate the consequences of his actions, he sat up and pulled her beneath him. Resting his forearms on either side of her shoulders.

She panted hard, her chest making contact with Logan's each rapid breath she took. He smoothed a loose hair behind her ear and stared as though intently admiring the view below.

"What are we doing?" Knowing that the face he was looking into appeared petrified was unnerving her.

"I don't know," he admitted with a laugh.

Just as his head moved very slightly downward, a sharp knock on the door shocked them out of their intimate moment causing them both to freeze and look nervously toward the door.

"Don't shoot – it's me," shouted an unmistakable voice from the other side of the door. "Time to pull out of Nancy Drew and answer the door. I come bearing pressies."

_Fucking hell! You can't exist unless you're a pain in my ass._

Veronica shook her head in disgust and sat up. "You deal with that. I'm going to go call my dad," she said, and walked into the bathroom to make the call in privacy.

_And maybe to stick my head under the faucet to cool down._

* * *

Logan shuffled irritably to the door and swung it open. "I'm disgruntled."

_I could not hate you more right now, bro._

"Nice to meet you, disgruntled. I'm Dick Casablancas," the blond man said jokingly as he pushed past his friend to enter the room.

Logan waved him in. "As usual, you have perfect timing, _Dick._"

"Wow. This room is not nice at all." Dick grimaced as he dumped out a bag filled with new clothes on the bed. "I thought you were rich."

"Mars Investigations rented this room. You know what they say though: Location! Location! Location!" he said with his usual flourish, then pulled the curtains to the side to showcase the crime scene. "Voila!" The windows were blown out in certain places, and there was blood spatter on the walls and carpet.

"Fuck!" Dick said, covering his mouth with both hands. "That's fucked up."

"That's one way of putting it." Logan shrugged and opened the mini bar.

"Get me a whiskey, bro," Dick said. "That just fried my brain."

"_That_ just friend you brain?" He looked at his friend like he was nuts. "You just spent the night praying to the porcelain god after a hooker slipped a roofie in your tequila."

"Notice I didn't ask for tequila." Dick winked as he pointed to his buddy.

_Nice to know that some things never change._

Logan gave up and tossed him a small bottle of Maker's Mark. "It is only the wisest and the stupidest who cannot change."

The surfer scrunched up his face, failing to understand to proverb. "Ronnie?"

"Confucius," he offered.

"Gezunteit, man," Dick said as he screwed the top off the bottle and chugged the contents. Maybe life was easier when you spent half the time in blissful ignorance?

Veronica skipped out of the bathroom practically vibrating with joy as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Ask me who Ivan Ivanovich is."

"Why don't we skip the bumper this time and go straight into Act 1?" Logan asked as he unscrewed the top of his mini bottle of Ketel One.

Veronica settled down on the edge of the bed and pulled a Red Bull from the fridge. "He's the guy who paid for the room both across from and next to us." She pulled the tab off and swallowed the entire thing in one go.

He tipped his head to the side and smirked. "I assume he paid with plastic."

Her brow furrowed and she narrowed her eyes impatiently. "What are you getting at, Logan?"

"Ivan Ivanovich is the Russian equivalent of John Doe. It was the name given to the space dummy the USSR put into orbit in the 60's," he said as he unscrewed another bottle of vodka. Off her silence, he looked back into a pair of bemused eyes. "What? Haven't you ever seen 'Space Race' or 'Space Race 2: Moon Marathon' starring ruggedly handsome film star Aaron Echolls?"

Dick raised his hand. "I have."

"Shut up, Dick," Veronica snapped.

_Should I be worried that most of my childhood education came from watching my father's movies? It's not everybody who is forced to watch their dad - while wearing tights - take a swing at Iambic Pentameter in English Lit class._

"Fine. So you're saying we're back to square one?"

"I sent Ratner to buy new clothes from the boutique in the lobby. Maybe that will cheer you up, Ronnie?" Dick gestured to the pile on the bed. "Not sure about the guy's taste, but they're not covered in blood, so there's that."

Veronica's eyes softened toward Dick. "Thanks. It strangely does cheer me up."

"Awesome. But listen, there weren't any kid's stores open this late at night, so the stuff might be big on you," he said, helpfully warning her.

Logan slid to the bed laughing.

"That's not funny!" she yelled, frowning as she lifted a shirt and held it to her chest. It was too big, which only made Logan laugh harder.

_I'd like to see her wearing my shirt again._

She pouted out her bottom lip and dropped the item. "God, this night has been a bust," she said, then spun around and held her finger up in Dick's direction. "I'm gonna stop you there!"

"What? Dude. I wasn't even gonna say anything. Just for that, you have to watch me change out of my puke jeans," he said, promptly dropping trou where he stood.

"Gross!" Veronica averted her eyes to the ground and then peered intently at a red packet of matches next to Dick's feet that had fallen out of his pocket. "What's that?"

Dick bent over and retrieved the matchbook, then flipped it over to read the inside and smiled. "Oh, this is Anastasia's number. She didn't have any paper, so she just wrote it on some matches she had in her purse. It's from a Russian bar she hangs out at all the time. She said she'd take me...guess that's not going to happen anymore," he said bitterly. "I said it once and I'll say it again: a waste of a great rack."

Logan leaned over Veronica's shoulder and looked at the matches. "That place is over on Clover street. It's a private club for Russian ex-pats. I could probably bribe our way in."

She put a finger to her lips in thought. "Yeah, but the way we look, they'd make us in a second for cops or PI's. What we need is an insider."

He bristled, picking up immediately where she was going with this. "No."

"He speaks the language," she said.

"No way," he said tersely, holding firm.

"Nobody would question why we're there. It's perfect, Logan."

Logan stood up and started pacing the room. "Yeah, it's perfect. Perfectly idiotic! He can't be trusted. He tried to have me killed!"

_How can she even think of asking for his help when she knows damn well how brutal and remorseless he can be?_

She stood up to steady him. "He told me he didn't do that."

He looked her in the face. "I'm taking about the first time. I saw him! He stood there and watched as his thug beat the life out of me. I don't think he would've stopped if the police hadn't come." He grabbed her shoulders. "Look, I know that you obviously don't give a shit what happens to you, but I do. If you want to do something monumentally reckless, I can't stop you. But unlike him, I don't have the stomach to just stand there and watch."

"Dick, get out!" Veronica shouted without turning her attention away from Logan.

"With pleasure!" Dick frantically scooped up all of his clothes and rushed out into the hallway in just his underwear and a t-shirt.

He slammed the door shut behind himself, and they both jumped from the noise. This night had put everyone on edge.

_This is is. I can't walk backward anymore until I know where you're leading me._

"Why are you back? Did the FBI toss you out of did you leave under your own auspices?" Logan asked.

She remained eerily still. "What does it matter why?"

He sighed bitterly at her inability to grasp the true intent behind his question and shook his head.

Veronica pulled a sharp intake of air into her lungs and held it.

_Then again, maybe she does get it?_

"I left. Okay? I chose to leave. Is that okay?"

He grabbed her face and stared intently into her eyes, searching for the truth, then took a deep breath himself and smiled. He wasn't getting the answer he wanted, but the fact that she'd even stayed to answer him showed progress. "Yeah. It's okay."

Logan ran his thumb along her cheekbone and she closed her eyes.

"I just - - I just wanted life to be easier," she said, and pulled more air into her chest. "When Gory released that sex tape...I couldn't look at myself anymore. It was like high school all over again, but worse, because at least in high school they were just rumors, not actual videos. And you attacked Piz and then afterward you and I ended up in...it was just...you were right about us. That look you gave me as you left the cafeteria that day you beat up Gory...I just knew. We were just going to keep hurting ourselves and each other and anybody who got in our way. Lives ruined. Bloodshed. You said it yourself. Parker, Piz, Duncan, Leo, and even Meg - they were all just collateral damage."

_I don't care about any of them and neither do you, so stop muddling the point._

He looked down at her sad face with tears brimming in her eyes and his chest burned. He hated seeing her like this. It wasn't in her nature to break down in front of people - not even him - so he knew this had to be more serious than he originally thought. "It doesn't have to be like that..."

Veronica shook her head. "It _is _like that, so we have no other choice."_  
_

"Then why did you come back?" he asked, anxious to hear her answer.

A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek and he wiped it away for her. "Just say it Veronica. Please. I have to know."

If she wanted him to beg he would have, but deep down if he thought about it, he already knew her reason. He _knew_, but he couldn't lay his heart on the line this time. It had to be her saying it, or it wouldn't work any other way.

"I - I couldn't stay away anymore," she admitted, and another tear rolled down her cheek.

Logan wiped it away with his thumb, but remained focused. "Why?"

_Say me. Tell me you came back for me._

She tried to lunge at him, but he held her back. He wouldn't fall for that tactic again, he knew she'd do just about anything not to talk. "Not until you tell me."

"This isn't easy for me, Logan. Not like it is for you. I know you've been knocked down too, probably more times than I have, but I'm not like you," she said, tearfully.

He felt the velvet of her skin on the back of his hand as he gently brushed her cheek with it. "We're more alike than you think."

_Just in different ways._

"But you never give up, and you're so wonderfully transparent. I wish I could wear my heart stitched to my sleeve like you do. Like Lilly did. But - too much has happened..."

_Fuck. She's going again. I fucking knew she'd find any excuse she could to leave._

He released her face and ran both hands through his own hair, tugging on it slightly, as if to pull out his own thoughts. "Then I think you should go. If it makes you happier to be away from me, then leave and don't look back. I just want you to be happy, Veronica."

She shook her head. "There's no point. I realized a while ago that I can't be happy without you, and I don't even want to be. I...love you, okay? I came back to Neptune because I still love you."

_You...love me? Did I just dream that?_

He closed his eyes and opened them again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, then exhaled the breath he had been holding for the last two minutes. "See, and I was so sure you were going to say you came back for the pizza."

Veronica sniffed a few times and then reached up and dug her fingers into the back of his hair like she used to. "That too," she laughed, breaking the tension. "The pizza really sucked in D.C. Too doughy."

He wrapped his arms around her thighs and she curled her legs around his waist. "I've heard that. Well, you're home now."

She leaned forward and tentatively pecked him on the lips. "Yeah. I'm home."

_Yeah. It finally does feel like home again._

His eyes grew dark with lust and he kissed her back ferociously, slamming her into the wall as they grappled for each other.

Veronica Mars still loved him! If he had to get nearly shot to have her again, it was worth it.

_ SO worth it._

Logan grazed her lips softly with his own, sliding them back and forth in-between hers before probing her mouth with his tongue. After all these years, she tasted the same. Her weight felt the same in his arms, her silky hair brushed against him the same way as he ran his fingers gently down the sides of her face. It was all amazing and all the same - except things were entirely different now.

She didn't run away from him this time, she sought him out - and he knew she would stay - for a while at least. "I missed you. So. Much."

"Oh God..." she called out in a guttural whisper as he hungrily mouthed his way down her neck.

He could feel her chest heaving against him again and his pants grew tight at the thought of putting his hands all over her naked body, and hearing those special noises she made only for him.

"Oh God!" she said with alarm this time. Her eyes flew open, and she immediately made him put her back down onto the floor.

"What's wrong?" he asked through his panting, completely stricken by the idea that he'd done something to upset her.

She smiled and unbuckled the gun holster fastened across her body. "You've already been shot at once tonight. I'd like to blow your mind the old fashioned way," she said impishly, as she carefully placed the gun on the nightstand with the safety off, ready to use, in case of surprise.

_Blow away!_

Logan ran to the door and put the latch on, figuring it would buy them a little more time if somebody tried to break in.

Veronica watched him eagerly. "I don't think they'll be back. Too much ground to cover at this hotel."

He removed his shirt and smirked and heard her sigh from across the room. They met at the center of the bed and he took his arm and swiped all of the new clothes onto the floor in a heap.

"Hmm. And here I was really looking forward to having sex on those cargo pants," she said, faking a pout.

"Next time." Logan kissed her. "You sure you want to do this?" He kissed her again.

She ran her hands down his bare chest and let them rest on his belt buckle. "This is nice, but I have some other things in mind, too," she muttered breathlessly, between kisses. "What about you? Are you worried it's too risky?"

Logan kissed her soundly until her lips were swollen. "You know my backstory, kitten. This is pretty much how I always expected our reunion to go down." He pulled her shirt over her head in one motion and lowered her to the center of the bed.

**A/N – Keep in mind, I have yet to take you down the rabbit hole :)**

**Please review and let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**You wanted sMut, so here it is—this chapter is rated M(mmm)**** since I added the much requested L/V sexytimes. They're still not _super_dirty, but I'm easing into it.**

**Not too much happens as far as action goes, it's more of a re-positioning chapter, but the main point was to get LoVe to a good place with each other before I drop the hammer on them! (spoiler alert: this ends happily)**

**I'm leaving on a trip for the week, but I promise to keep updating - it may not be every day like it has been - but it won't take too long.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 5**

_"Veronica Mars, you little slut!"_

_Veronica's eye shot open and she looked around the room. "Lilly?"_

_Lilly Kane, as beautiful and young as the day she died, pulled herself onto the hotel desk and swung her legs back and forth. "Not even 12 hours and you already got him naked. Nice work! Though I would've used this desk," she said as she smacked her hand on it. "I always did like a firm surface."_

_"Huh?" Veronica pinched herself, sure that she had to be dreaming. She hadn't dreamed of Lilly since the night of Cassidy's suicide, and it she missed her visitations dearly. "You're back?"_

_"Hello? We're having a discussion, so I must be back, right?" Lilly laid across the desk and struck a sexy pose. "You're really starting to come into your own, V. I just knew there was an inner skank somewhere inside of you that was begging to break free."_

_"God, it's really good to see you," she said as she felt tears begin to sting her eyes. "I missed you so much."_

_"Of course you did. I was fabulous." Lilly peered over to look at her ex and smiled. "He just gets better with age, doesn't he? Like a fine wine."_

_Veronica turned to look at Logan. "Can't argue with that," she said with a smile, as she slid out from under his heavy grasp. "Lilly, what are you doing here?"_

_With the edges of her pincher fingers, the dead teen lifted a white sports bra off of the desk as if it were radio-active. "Sexy!" she exclaimed with disdain. "Way to keep him interested. Have you learned nothing from me?"_

_Veronica laughed. "That's not mine. Well, it is now, I guess, but I didn't buy it. Dick had the concierge get it."_

_Lilly snorted. "Figures. He always was clueless about women. But listen to me, Veronica Mars, you are not a Hanes sports bra, you are a La Perla push-up bra. Remember that!" she said as she hopped off the desk and looked at her own reflection in the mirrored wall behind the desk._

_Veronica could see her reflection behind Lilly's and old feelings of inadequacy bubbled up. "I'd forgotten how beautiful you were in person. Why haven't you come to see me since that night?"_

_"I haven't had a reason to," she said casually, as she fixed her hair._

_"But why now?" she asked._

_Lilly looked at her best friend through the mirror as though she were stupid. "Duh! You haven't needed me until now."_

_"I need you now?" Veronica wondered. "Does this have to do with Logan? He's not in danger, is he?" she asked, her stomach tying itself into a tight knot with the mere thought._

_"I'm not here for him," she said dismissively. "But somebody you love is in danger."_

_Veronica leaned forward. "Then who?"_

_"You know I can't tell you that." Lilly looked at her and smiled._

_"Come on, Lilly. Just give me a hint. How am I supposed to help them if I don't know who I'm helping?" she asked._

_The buxom blonde smiled coyly. "It's not like there are that many people left you actually care about, Veronica Mars. You'll see..." she said as she faded away from sight._

_"Lilly! Don't go yet, please!" Veronica said, begging. "Lilly!"_

* * *

"Veronica? Ronnie?"

"Huh?" Veronica blinked a few times and focused her eyes. Logan was above her, tenderly running his fingers down her hairline.

"Where'd you go?" he asked. "I'm either so bad at this that you're drifting off or so good that you've reached another plane of enlightenment. I'm hoping it's the latter."

"I hit nirvana," she cooed, leaning up to kiss him again. She thought it was probably better not to mention that the orgasm he just gave her caused her to hallucinate Lilly. In her mind though, she knew Lilly more than anybody would have appreciate the humor in it.

He smiled and then rested his head on her chest while she played with his hair. "I can't believe you're real," she said as his fingertips trailed along her inner thigh.

"Me either. For a while I thought I was a figment of my own imagination," he said, as her pulled her legs around his back. "I wish we could stay here all day." He pulled her close and nuzzled her breasts.

What started out as a sigh quickly morphed into a strangled sound. "I have to call Quantico this morning. They're going to want to know why my weapon was fired twice."

His head picked up to face her. "You told me you left the FBI."

Her eyes widened as she realized she was busted. "I, um, I meant that I was planning on leaving. I haven't yet. I'm in town on a leave of absence. I only got here a week ago."

"So you didn't come back here for me," he said and rolled over onto his back with an exhale.

She climbed on top of him and straddled his waist. "I did, Logan. I swear!"

"Then why didn't you find me? Would you have even called if you hadn't stumbled on top of me yesterday?" he wondered aloud.

"I planned to call," she said.

He laughed and ran his hands over his face. "Of course you did." he said sharply. "God, what was I thinking?"

"I was scared, okay? I didn't know if you were with somebody or if you even wanted me." She grabbed his face and turned it to look at her. "I'm quitting the bureau, I swear. I'm not leaving you again."

His doe-eyes looked forlorn as they surveyed her face. "I don't care where you work, Veronica, as long as you come home to me in one piece at the end of the day. I just can't..."

Before he could finish speaking, she smashed her lips against his and laid on top of him, pressing as much surface area of their bodies together as she could manage. It felt amazing to have him pressed up against her everywhere.

His hands found her hips and pushed them down firmly on to his groin. She could feel his erection on her stomach as she leaned over to kiss him, and it made her dizzy with want. It seemed like the more she had of him, the more she wanted. It was official: Logan Echolls was as addictive as potato chips!

His hands grabbed her behind and rocked her core into his, hitting her sweet spot over and over again. "Don't make me wait," she whispered to him closely before nipping his earlobe.

"Whatever the lady wants..." he said with a smile, as he raised her up and positioned himself at her entrance.

She released a small gasp as she eased herself onto his lap and reveled in the feeling of him inside of her. The fact that she had gone without this for so long only made her ache for him more. In all of those years, none of the others (though there weren't many) made her feel this full and whole.

He leaned his back against the wall and began to steadily rock her on his lap by her hips. His breath grew more ragged as he pumped her harder. "God, I love you," he rasped as he brought one hand up to tease her nipples.

Veronica moaned and his fingers worked their way down to where their bodies joined. He stroked her over and over again, watching her intently as her release began to build, tweaking his technique with each sigh and noise.

She smiled at him through her haze, fighting to keep eye contact as she started to lose control. "I'm so happy..." she cried out, much to her own surprise, as her muscles clenched and she fell into the abyss while cursing his name.

He held tightly her as she shuddered above him, slowly moving inside of her to draw out her pleasure. As she came down from her high, he pulled her beneath him and slammed into her hard, again and again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and watched him in awe as he approached the edge. She pulled him against her and caressed the side of his neck with her tongue, running it roughly over his two-day stubble. "I love you," she whispered in his ear, and he released into her almost immediately with a loud groan.

Their hands joined as they both lay panting next to each other, struggling for breath.

Veronica burrowed sideways into his body and inhaled deeply. She had missed his touch more than he'd ever know. In FBI training camp, she participated in a hostage exercise where they learned sensory recall techniques. The recruits were told to pick a 'safe place', a location they had personal experience with that made them feel comfortable and happy.

The trainees had to close their eyes and picture everything about the location – how it smelled, the temperature of the air, the textures they could feel around them, anything that would help them imagine they were in that serene space. In the event they were captured, it would help them block out the bad experiences and stay sane. When they were in pain, they could go to that place. In that exercise as well as in life, Logan's embrace was always her 'safe place'.

Veronica rolled onto her side to look at him and felt in many ways like she was truly seeing him for the first time. Parts of him had always frightened her, because of the way they made her feel, but she wasn't afraid anymore. She would see Logan and love him totally - flaws and all. He deserved to be unconditionally loved and they would never work until she could do that. She knew what it felt like to go without him, and if he made her choose all or nothing, she knew there was only one choice to be had.

"Well, that sucked," she said with a disappointed sigh.

He rolled over to face her. "What a nitpicker! Would you like me to try it again? Just give me 15 minutes and a glass of water."

He nipped at her neck giddily and ran his thumb across her jaw. "Logan...when you said before that you want me to come home to you safe at the end of the day...I want that too," she said shyly.

His eyes grew and he forcefully pulled her close to him. "It's been five years, how do you know you won't find me annoying now?"

"Oh, I _know _I'll find you annoying," she said with a laugh. "I just...I came home to be with you, so I think I should really _be_ with you."

"Are you're actually saying that you want to live with me? After a handful of hours?" His questions may have been cynical but his tone was hopeful.

She shrugged. "A handful of hours and and the twelve years leading up to it."

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked, bringing his hand to her forehead. "The old you didn't even like keeping a toothbrush at The Grand."

She pursed her lips. "The old me was a 'fraidy cat. The new me is better at appreciating stuff."

"What changed?" He asked suspiciously.

An unpleasant memory flashed through Veronica's mind but she pushed it to the back and smiled. "Just grew up, I guess. Maybe you've just gotten more irresistible?"

"Well, that's definitely true, but how can you want to live with me? You don't even know where I live. I could live in a flea motel in a really bad part of town," he said.

"I'll spray insecticide and bring my gun," she said.

"What if I live on a ramshackle boat in shanty town?" he asked.

"I'll wear a life vest," she said.

A broad smile swept his face. "What if Dick Casablancas is my roommate?"

She hesitated.

Logan balked. "And the lady has the nerve to claim she loves me..."

Veronica stroked his face. "I'd even...I'd even live with Dick," she said, only barely getting the words out through a mock dry heave. "I don't care where we live, I just want us to be together. I don't want to wait."

He kissed her. "Well, if you want me to live with you, you're going to have to keep me alive first. And you're also going to have to stop that annoying habit you have of leaving the caps off of everything."

Offended, she pulled herself half on top of him. "I'll have you know, my annoying habits are completely adorable. Everybody says so."

He kissed her again. "Who is this everybody, of which you speak?" he asked jealously.

The sound of the door being pounded on shocked the both of them into action.

Veronica grabbed her gun and waved for Logan to get into the bathroom. He shook his head and stood defiantly next to her, wrapping her with a towel.

"Yo, Vee. It's just me," Weevil said as he knocked again. Veronica opened the door for him, sending Logan scurrying into the bathroom.

The ex-con digested the state of the room and recoiled. "Seriously?"

She secured the towel around her torso. "The heart wants what the heart wants, Weevil."

His face tightened. "Quoting a pedophile isn't really working in your favor, chica."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, hombre," she said tersely.

"Well how about a little advice then? You dad is on his way up, Vee, so my _advice_ would be that you get dressed now, unless you want the sheriff to turn Ritchie Rich into varón castrado," he said with a smirk as he let himself out.

Logan poked his head out of the door. "I'm going to jump in the shower. Maybe you could ask Weevil to bring up a few more towels after he cleans the room?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Can you stop that?"

"You know I can't." He grinned as he closed the bathroom door.

Veronica quickly threw on a pair of oversized sweatpants and a t-shirt, seconds before her father knocked on the door.

"Special delivery!" Keith announced from the other side.

She yanked opened the door and threw her arms around her father.

"What's that for?" he asked, with a smile.

"Just really happy to be home," she said, before noticing the tray in his hands. "Thank God!"

She grabbed the paper tray from her dad's grasp and placed it on the desk, then pulled out one of the coffee cups and inhaled it's aroma. Ecstasy took over her face.

"Nice to know some things never change," he said, laughing. "Speaking of which, your brother would like you to call him."

"Which one?" she asked without turning. The warm cup in front of her held most of her attention.

Keith sat in the chair near the desk and grabbed a cup for himself. "Here's a hint: He said you've been, and I'm quoting here, 'doggin' him all week'. I'm not sure if I got the inflection right."

She shook her head. "That was perfect. Tell Wallace I'll get back to him today."

"So, um...anything you want to tell me?" Keith asked, as his eyes raked his surroundings.

Taking a page from Dick, jr., Veronica figured the best defense was to play dumb. "Hmm?"

The door to the bathroom flew open and Logan, still wet with only a tiny towel wrapped around his waist, sauntered across the room to the pile of clothes on the floor and bent over to sift through them. "Good morning, sheriff." Logan nodded in deference.

_Holy crap he looked good._

"Logan," Keith nodded back.

Veronica's eyes hungrily followed her boyfriend's every move until he stepped back into the bathroom again.

Keith raised his eyebrow in his daughter's direction, but she kept hers firmly focused on her drink. "I wasn't born yesterday, you know."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, trying desperately to will away this line of questioning.

"You're not 17 anymore honey, and as much as it kills me to say it, if you want to do...things...with people...I can't really stop you. I just want you to be happy...and safe," he said with a look.

She smiled. "I know, dad."

"Thank God, because talking about it was making my tongue feel weird," Keith said as he rubbed a napkin over the top of his tongue. "I will say this one last thing about it though, Logan has grown up a lot since you left town."

Her eyes grew wide. "Do my ears deceive me? Are you actually giving Logan Echolls a compliment?"

He sat up straighter in his chair. "I'll do you one better, I'll give you my blessing."

Veronica looked behind her then pointed to herself. "Are you still talking to me?"

He shrugged. "He may not be as bad as I had originally thought. I mean, don't get me wrong, teenage Logan was a blight on society, but grown up Logan...hmm...not such a bad guy."

She was dumbfounded. "And you would know this how...?"

"A few years ago, I let him shadow me for a month while he was working on that book series of his," he said.

Confusion overtook her fine features. "I'm sorry, what?"

Keith looked amused. "Don't tell me you haven't read it."

Her mouth hung open for a beat. She knew he was interested in becoming a writer and in the airport she could have sworn that she saw his name on one of the books on the store shelf, but she was late for her flight, so she just assumed she was seeing things. "There would have been no point in me forbidding all of you to mention him if I was just going to go read his innermost thoughts anyway. It would have been masochistic."

Keith chuckled to himself.

"What?" she asked nervously. "What don't I know?"

The door to the bathroom opened again and Logan walked into the room dressed and ready to go.

"You'll see. Why don't you ask your little friend about it?" he said, pointing to Logan.

"Not sure I appreciate being referred to in the diminutive, sheriff, but I'm always happy to be considered a friend." He grinned lasciviously at Veronica, who struggled to contain her blush.

The lawman crossed his arms smugly over his chest. "Thought you might want to be the one to tell her about Amanda Ares."

His face lost all color and the swagger in which he carried himself vanished in a heartbeat. "She doesn't know? You never told her?"

He shook his head.

Logan cleared his throat and glanced at her quickly. "Uhh...as I'm sure you probably know, I'm a mediocre author of mid-level pulp fiction novels."

She shook her head. "I knew you were a writer, though I'm positive you're wrong about the mediocre part."

He smiled quickly at the compliment and then shoved his hands into his pockets as he paced the small room, wearing away a swatch of the carpet with his shoes.

"Who is Amanda Ares?" she asked.

He looked deep in thought and then snapped his fingers with an epiphany. "Remember that class at Hearst we took on Greek mythology?" he asked, his eyes crinkled and seemed to be begging her to understand.

She stood still for a moment as she tried to catch the gist of what he was trying to tell her.

The needle clicked.

Veronica's coffee cup hit the desk, rolling onto its side as both of her hands shot up to cover her mouth. "Oh my God! Logan, you didn't!"

"I'm sorry. I thought you knew!" he said, breathlessly.

She shook her head. "No. No, I didn't." If somebody weren't already trying to kill him, she would be next in line.

"Yeah, well...I did think it wasn't like you not to mention it," he said, his face crinkled in remorse.

"Mars - Ares, anybody who knows me could figure that out! Did you think I would be happy about it?" she hissed as she dug a fist into each of her hip bones and thought of different ways to make him pay for what he'd done. This tantrum of hers was likely to leave them both bruised.

Keith wrapped one arm around each of them. "Kids, as much fun as this was – _for me _– I'm going to let you have it out in private while Eli debriefs me about his meeting this morning with the victim's roommate. I'm giving you 30 minutes, and then I want you ready to work."

He leaned over and kissed his daughter on the cheek before letting himself out of the room.

The door clicked shut. They stared at one another in a standoff.

"So...is she pretty?" she asked, bracing herself for the description.

"She's _you__, _Veronica. What do you think?" he said.

"Does she do the head tilt thing that I do? Does she carry a taser?" she asked in a snide tone, berating him with questions. She had too many to count.

"Come on," Logan said as he smoothed her hair down, and held her until she calmed down. "Would I write something bad about you? You know me, I'm your Huckleberry," he said, before kissing the top of her head.

She felt his warm lips on her scalp and melted. Damn it! That Logan Echolls had the charm of a Southern politician. She couldn't stay mad at him if she wanted to.

"Why don't you take a shower? I'll even volunteer to soap up your back as penance," he said with a straight face.

Veronica rolled her eyes at his gumption. She was at his throat not even three minutes ago and he was already inviting himself into her shower. The worst part, is that - of course - she was considering it. "He gave us 30 minutes."

"I can work within those parameters," he said, assuring her, his hands found their way to her bottom and lifted her onto the desk. God, he was tempting.

"Get out of here!" she shouted angrily, with a smile on her face that belied her aggressive voice.

He pulled back with a pout and sighed, then quickly changed his mind, and pressed his lips to hers. Her hands quickly found their way into his hair like they were stealing third. "Go," she ordered him between moans, with no intention of stopping, as he nibbled on her earlobe. "Logan..."

"Amanda..." he groaned into her ear.

She pushed him back violently and he started to laugh at her.

"I hate you. This is no joke," she said, pouting as she pointed to the door. "Out!"

He folded his hands behind his head, stole one last kiss from her and strolled out of the room whistling.

She placed both hands over her heart and tried to catch her breath. She felt like she was in high school again. How can one man manage to make her so giddy for so many years. What made her think she could live without this? Without him?

Veronica glanced at the door then pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed on speaker.

The man on the other end answered after four rings. "Veronica Mars?"

She sat up straighter and placed the phone against her ear. "Hi Gory."

"I was hoping you would call," he said in a tone that suggested that he already knew she would.

**A/N - Thanks for all of your fantastic reviews - especially those of you who have taken the time to be so specific and thorough! I *LoVe* reading them all, so please continue :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A bit of a short chapter, but I wanted to end on a cliffhanger, so don't kill me.**

**CHAPTER 6**

Logan, Weevil, Keith and Veronica sat huddled together at a table at the local Coffee Bean Tea & Leaf.

The diminutive blonde was in high spirits, clearly happy to be surrounded by three of her favorite men.

"I feel like I should be sitting with my back against the wall, mafia style. A person is just opening themselves up to a good whacking when they sit with their back to the door," Logan said, the exhaustion of the past 24 hours finally starting to wear on him.

"You are under my protection at the meeting of the five families," she mumbled in a bad impression of Marlon Brando from 'The Godfather'.

"There are only four of us here, Vee," Weevil said.

She rubbed her hands together like a Bond villain. "For now..."

As if on cue, the front door of the Beanery swung open and Gory Sorokin stepped inside wearing a douche uniform, consisting of brown aviators, a white and blue track suit and diamond pinky ring. Logan decided this was just too cheesy to be for real. He hated the guy's guts, but there was no way he dressed like an off-the-boat, Coney Island electronics salesman in his leisure hours.

"Speak of the devil..." Logan said under his breath as his entire body tensed.

Gory caught sight of Veronica first and a genuine smile crossed his face. Logan found this more chilling than the smug grin Gory sported while his goons kicked the shit out of him all those years ago. What the hell did he want with Ronnie? It's not like this guy was hurting in the pussy department. He had money, a decent build and a degree from a fancy private university. He was pretty much set as far as chicks were concerned.

Veronica waved Gory over and flashed him a smile of her own, though it never quite reached her eyes. God, he wanted to punch this guy in the face again so badly.

The Russian pulled out a chair and sat backwards on it, then suddenly noticed Logan sitting nearby. "Echolls. Nice to see your face finally healed," he smirked, before turning his focus back to the pretty blonde in front of him.

"Could say the same to you," he said with a nod, as he perched his elbows on the table.

Veronica slid an espresso over to Gory, which he picked up and blew on to cool down. "I hear you've gone and pissed off the wrong Russians again. You seem to have a talent for that."

He leaned on his hands and gave Gory the look of mild amusement that used to infuriate his father to no end. "...and my guidance counselor said I lacked aptitude. Guess I showed her."

"Why don't we go over the plan?" Veronica said, giving Logan a warning glare.

He knew she was doing all of this for him, but he'd rather take a risk with his life than let her make a deal with the devil on his behalf.

"Gory and I will go over to The Red Room in another hour for lunch. I'll be wearing a wire, and dad will be in the surveillance van outside with Leo," she said.

"You're going in there alone with him?" Logan asked with deep concern.

"Weevil will pose as Gory's bodyguard. He'll be wired up with hidden cameras, too," she said.

"And what am I supposed to do while my girlfriend is out there risking her life for me? Shuffleboard?" he asked, clearly vexed by his exclusion.

Keith placed a hand on his shoulder. "Logan, you're too high profile to go undercover. Besides, if somebody at the club wants you dead, it's the last place you should be hanging out."

He knew Keith was right, but it still didn't make him feel any better. The idea of Veronica walking into the lion's den with the possible ringmaster, made his skin crawl.

"So what's the plan then, you're just going to go in there and interrogate everybody wearing a sateen shell suit?" he asked, giving a cursory glance to his nemesis.

Gory finished his espresso and put the glass down then pulled out his iPhone to check a text. "My grandfather had a saying, 'Znayet koshka, ch'yo myaso s'yela'. It means 'The cat knows whose meat it has eaten'. It's a small club. If somebody there was involved with this, I'll know." He clicked the home screen button and slipped the phone back in his pocket before looking up at his companions.

"Expecting somebody?" Weevil asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm meeting a guy at the club," he said with a shrug.

Veronica looked uneasy. "You're taking a business meeting during an undercover investigation?"

He held out an upturned palm and looked somewhat amused. "I'm good at multitasking. I figured you, of all people, would appreciate that, Veronica."

Her body went rigid. Veronica Mars was not a fan of curve balls. "Who is the meeting with?"

"Just a guy," he said evasively.

"Yeah...that's really not gonna work for me, Gory. Do you want me to help you find out who is trying to pin Logan's hit on you or not?" she asked while wearing one of her more intimidating expressions.

He shook his head. "You and I both know you're here for him and not me," he said, jutting a thumb in Logan's direction. "I'm the bait."

"Then why did you agree to do this? Why are you paying us?" she asked.

He shifted his weight in the chair. "When we were in college, you managed to locate, intimidate, interrogate and terrorize several of my most loyal friends into ratting me out in a matter of days. You even erased Desante's entire identity and put him on an FBI watch list. I'm man enough to admit that I could learn a few things from you."

This smacked of bullshit. Logan wondered what Gory's real game was, because he knew he didn't have the humility to be schooled by a chick - even one as talented as Veronica.

"Consider it a paid tutorial in vigilante justice," he said while rubbing his hands together.

"You sure you feel comfortable palling around with a federal agent?" she asked.

Consternation creased his brow. "You're still an agent?"

She looked at him flatly. "Is that a problem for you?"

He swatted at the air. "It doesn't make a difference, I'm just surprised you never mentioned it. I'm just a businessman, milashka. I've got nothing to hide," he said with a straight face.

She took a moment to read him. "Good to know."

* * *

Logan paced outside of the bathroom in his hotel room nervously as Veronica dressed. "There's no way this guy is on the level."

"Really, Logan? Thanks for the heads up!" she shouted through the door.

He leaned against the door and drew letters on it with his finger. "Ronnie, I'm not trying to go all Fred Flintstone on you. I just have a bad feeling about this guy."

She laughed melodically through the wood door. "Really? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

A puff of laughter involuntarily escaped his lips. She was infuriating, but always entertaining.

The door clicked open and Logan backed up to give his girlfriend a wide berth to exit.

He took one look at her and gripped the wall. "Are you getting off on torturing me?"

"Why would you ask me that?" she asked, pulling down the hem of her white micro-mini skirt before adjusting the push up bra under her tight, bedazzled tank top.

His look told her not to play coy.

"I'm working undercover, Logan!" she said with exasperation.

"If you were under a cover, I wouldn't be so worried," he said while running a hand roughly through his hair.

"I have a jacket, too," she said holding up a tiny, denim bolero that barely covered anything.

He felt a wave of both arousal and nausea pass over him and he pressed his forehead to the wall.

She smiled sweetly and ambled across the room, slipping her arms around his waist from behind.

He turned around to look at her and grasped her hips. He knew he had to keep his worry in check. This was one of the big reasons they broke up in college. A ragged breath escaped his lips. "Do you get to keep the clothes afterward?"

"Would that ease the sting a bit?" she asked as she rand a finger down the center of his chest.

He shrugged. "Maybe a little...but you know what would really ease the sting?"

Her arms snaked their way around his neck as she stood on her toes to kiss him. He could feel his pants growing tighter and wondered if she would fall for his usual distraction techniques or if he'd have to pull out the big guns.

"I'm not staying here to have sex with you," she said preemptively with a bemused look.

"That's what they all say," he grumbled.

She ran her hands up the back of Logan's shirt and burrowed into his chest. If he could, he'd imprison her exactly like this for the rest of time. "I'm glad I'm back."

"I'm pretty glad you're back, too," he said before kissing the top of her head.

"I keep waiting to wake up, you know? I can't believe this is really happening," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I figured you'd have somebody by now. You're handsome, rich, brilliant..." she said, rattling off a few choice adjectives. He soaked up the praise in spades. He'd heard all of this before, but out of anybody else's mouth, it was just lip service.

She kissed his chest. "Why wouldn't some woman want to come and snap you up?"

"They tried," he said. "But, you must've known there was no way any of them could follow you. You're the Bacall to my Bogie."

"I think _you're_ Bacall. I am, after all, the PI in this relationship," she said, correcting him.

"Tom-ah-to," he said. "Anyway...as you can see, I never really did get over you."

"No, but you certainly did get under me," she said, then followed it up by making a rim-shot sound.

"I'm being serious," he said, cupping her face tenderly before kissing her deeply. "I'll always love you."

She smiled and exhaled hard. "Me too. I mean...I'll always love you too."

He could tell she was making an effort. Finally.

She dragged him by the hand toward the door. "Come on. If you're good, maybe my dad will even let you drive the van."

"Huzzah!" he said with faux enthusiasm.

* * *

Logan and Veronica walked out of the back entrance of the hotel and were met by Gory, who was waiting in the driver's seat of his white H2, which he had idling.

Next to the H2 was an unmarked van containing Weevil, Keith and Leo, who was at the wheel.

Logan couldn't help but notice the look of appreciation on Gory's face when he saw Veronica in her outfit.

From the open side door of the van, Keith blanched at his daughter's wardrobe choice and bit down on his back teeth.

Veronica raised a hand. "Logan already covered everything you're thinking right now dad, so don't bother."

"I've said nothing," he said, defending himself.

She snorted. "Your eyes are doing that silent scream thing."

"Well, since you're the one who brought it up...that skirt, if one could call it that, is a little on the short side, no?" Keith asked.

"Yes," Logan said, answering for Veronica.

"On that note, I'm going to go," she said.

Logan cupped her face and sighed. "Don't do anything - - "

"- - stupid. Yeah, I know," she whispered, then gave Logan a quick kiss on the lips as he rubbed slow circles on her lower back.

Gory interrupted the moment by swinging open Veronica's door from the inside. "Nice job dressing the part."

"I could say the same for you. Where's your gold chain and medallion to match the track suit?" she asked as she hopped into the passenger's side of Gory's car.

He chuckled. "I brought this instead," he said with a gleam in his eye while flashing his diamond pinky ring. "A medallion would just be overkill."

"I thought that's what you people were all about," she said.

"You people?" He shook his head and leaned across Veronica's lap to close her door, brushing her bare legs with his forearm both ways. "Just trying to blend in. This whole mob thing is really more my dad's thing than mine."

Logan's face dropped along with his stomach at this display. "See you on the flip side, Bobcat," he said as she retreated.

Weevil emerged from Keith's van, dressed similar to Gory in a track suit, and walked past Logan to Gory's car, giving him a reassuring nod to silently let him know he'd be looking out for his partner.

He may not be the biggest fan of the former PCHer, but if he had to put his girlfriend's life in anyone's hands, it would be his.

* * *

Veronica and Gory entered The Red Room, trailed by Weevil.

Once past the check-in, the trio was whisked away to a prime table near the back of the club.

.

From the surveillance van, Logan watched the monitor helplessly along with Keith.

"Well, it's obvious why they call it The Red Room," she said, as rotated her body around the room, giving surveillance a good look at the layout through one of her hidden cameras before sliding into a red velvet booth.

The floors were covered in plush-looking, burgundy carpet with the walls painted to match. Gilded mirrors lined every surface, making it impossible not to have a 360 degree view at all times. Logan wondered if this was done for a particular reason, apart from bad taste.

The place was poorly lit though, and between the darkness and the thick cigarette smoke, it was difficult to see details more than a few feet away.

.

A stunning brunette with curly hair, carrying a silver tray approached the table. "Dobry den'. Rad tebya videt, Mr. Sorokin," she said, as she placed a chilled bottle of Stolichnaya Elit in a silver ice bucket on the table along with two chilled shot glasses, then opened the bottle and filled their cups.

Gory smiled. "Spasiba, Vera."

Veronica glanced up at Weevil, who was also wearing a camera and standing guard near Gory's side of the table.

" Za zdorovie," he said as he passed a shot to Veronica and held his glass aloft.

"I don't really drink, Gory," she said quietly.

"You do today," he said. "Now bottom's up."

Veronica gingerly placed the glass to her lips and let the contents slide down her throat.

.

Inside the van, Logan's chest began to tighten. "She doesn't have a high tolerance for alcohol, Keith."

The sheriff pulled one side of his headphones away from his ear and patted the younger man's shoulder. "She's a professional, Logan. She can handle herself."

Logan rubbed both hands over his face and took a deep breath.

.

"How did she know your name? I thought you said you've only been here a few times with your dad," she asked.

He poured them both another shot. "I didn't want you to think I was part of the Bratva," he said, "So I may have lied a little bit."

"Great." She tilted her head and looked him directly in the eye. "Aren't you, though...you know, Bratva?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't lying when I said I was a businessman, Veronica."

"I figured it was a euphemism," she said.

"It's not. I own a VC company. We invest mostly in tech projects," he explained as he drank his shot. "I was a finance major. I don't really dabble in my father's affairs."

"You seemed to dabble a bit when you had Logan pummeled," she said, resting both hands on the table.

Gory gently placed one of his hands on top of Veronica's. "I was a punk in college. I'm a grown man, now. You can't tell me you never did anything stupid when you were a teenager."

She laughed. "I did a lot of stupid stuff when I was a teen."

"People grow up. They change," he said with a kind smile.

.

Sitting anxiously in the parked van, Logan buried his face in his hands. "If he keeps this bullshit up for much longer, we're going to need a shovel to get Veronica out of there."

Keith leaned into the mic. "Weevil. See if you can get me a view of the left side of the room, behind Veronica."

The image on the monitor rotated to accommodate his request.

"Who is that?" Keith wondered as he stared at a lone figure in the corner, whose face was obscured by a newspaper.

.

"When is your meeting going to show up?" Veronica asked Gory as she took a small sip of her vodka in appeasement.

"He's already here," Gory said, then quickly jerked his head toward the mystery person in the corner, whose identity was heavily cloaked by the lack of light and the overabundance of newspaper.

"Why is he sitting over there instead of with us?" she asked.

Gory hesitated. "He...didn't want to scare you off until I had a chance to explain."

Weevil pulled his jacket aside for a moment and flashed Gory his weapon.

"Explain what?" Veronica snapped tersely.

"He just wants to talk to you, Veronica. That's all," he said with an earnest expression.

"If you don't tell me who that is sitting over there right now..."

Gory placed his hand on hers again. "I can do better than that," he said and snapped his fingers to catch the waitress's attention. "Budʹ laska , skazhy moho hostya , shcho my hotovi do nʹoho pryyednatysya do nas."

"Da." Vera nodded and approached the stranger, who was still concealed behind the paper.

The paper shifted slightly as Vera relayed the message, then she lifted the man's coffee onto her tray and brought it to their table. "Vin skazav , shcho bude z vamy nay̆blyzhchym chasom."

"He'll be here shortly." Gory translated for Veronica.

The silhouette rose from his seat and folded his newspaper, tucking it under his arm for safe keeping, then walked slowly toward the table.

Veronica's look of utter shock was broadcast to the monitor via Weevil's camera, but the figure wasn't noticeable on Veronica's camera for another few seconds.

"Hello Veronica. Long time no see," the man said, his voice floating toward her from the shadows. Though Veronica could clearly see the interloper, the cameras weren't able to pick him up due to the low lighting.

.

"I know that voice," Keith said before trying to fiddle with the picture knobs on the monitor to make the screen lighter.

.

Veronica's brow furrowed and a look of indignation took over her face. "What are you doing here?" she spat, then turned to Gory. "He put you up to this? You lured me here, just so he could talk to me? I said everything I needed to say to him the last time we met." She pointed at the figure and sneered.

"I'm sorry. I had no choice," Gory said, trying to explain.

"Save it," she said as she held her palm in the direction of his face in protest.

"I have nothing against you, Veronica. Never did. I'm just an instrument," their new guest said smoothly.

"Great, well then tell your maestro that his audience has just walked out," she said with a huff as she stood up to leave.

The mystery man grabbed her by the wrist, finally exposing his face to the light. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

.

Keith brought a sharp intake of air into his lungs and paused the screen.

"Who the hell is that?" Logan asked with alarm.

"His name is Clarence Wiedman, and he is a very dangerous man," he said with a frown.

* * *

**A/N - Dun dun dun! How many of you were expecting Gory to lead to Clarence? This conspiracy goes even deeper than you think...**

**Please let me know if you're still digging this by leaving a review! I love feedback :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Clarence said, while continuing to grip Veronica's wrist.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you." Veronica tried to jerk her hand away.

She couldn't believe this was happening. Who the hell did this guy think he was to manhandle her? She may have been wet behind the ears when she saw him last, but she was as dry as a bone now, and if he thought she was just going to roll over this time, he was sorely mistaken.

Weevil took a few steps toward Wiedman and smiled. "I'm pretty sure the lady doesn't want you touching her."

"Thanks for the memo," Clarence said with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't think you get it._ I_ don't want you touching her. In fact, if you don't get your fucking hands off Veronica in the next three seconds, you could lose one of them," Weevil growled in a low voice.

The older man glanced at Weevil and registered the threat level as real. He took his hand off of is nemesis and held it up in surrender. "Can we dial things back? I apologize if I came on a little strong, Ms. Mars, but it's imperative that we speak."

"For you, maybe," she said.

"I wouldn't waste either of our time if this didn't have something to do with you," he said.

What business on earth could he possibly have that would in any way affect her. Then it hit her: Duncan.

"Does this have anything to do with our mutual expatriate friend?" she asked nervously.

His eyebrow quirked in response to her quick uptake.

"Okay," she said with a nod before sitting back down in the booth. "But he leaves," she said, pointing to Gory.

Gory balked. "I think I'll decide if I'm coming or going, sweetheart."

"You're going," Clarence told him unequivocally.

Gory shook his head and murmured something in Russian under his breath. "Tell Jake Kane we are even now. I'm not interested in what he's selling. Is that clear?"

Clarence smiled. "I'll pass it along."

Gory stormed out of the club, stopping only to smile and greet two older, Slavic gentlemen on his way out.

Wiedman glanced at Weevil. "Can you take care of this please?"

Veronica turned to Weevil with an apologetic look.

"No fucking way, Vee. Your dad would have my head on a platter, and I don't really feeling like scrapping with your boy toy again," he said.

She put her hand on his arm. "I've got this one. I mean, look at him. He's got to be around 50. Pretty sure I can outrun him, and what I can't outrun, I can always shoot." She opened her jacket and flashed Weevil her small handgun.

Wiedman shook his head in bemusement. "You never fail to surprise me, Ms. Mars. I'll give you that."

Weevil looked resistant, but she knew he trusted her enough to follow her request. "I'll leave the table, but there's no way I'm leaving the joint. In fact, I'll just be sitting over there in the same seat this vato was peeping on you from."

He fist bumped with his partner and walked away, glaring with hostility at Wiedman the whole time. The manager of the club, wearing a red velvet jacket to match the benches, scurried over to relay the table for him.

"You inspire fierce loyalty in your friends, I'll give you that," he said.

"You know what else you could give me? The point of your little visit," she said as she rapped her fingers on the table top impatiently.

Wiedman slowly poured himself a shot of Gory's vodka and politely offered Veronica a pour. She shook her head no, but he poured her one anyway.

"We're not drinking buddies, Wiedman. Get to the point," she said.

He took his time doing the shot. "We're not alone, yet."

She sighed, removed the wire from her jacket. "I'm sorry dad," she said as she dropped the whole thing into her vodka glass. Out of nowhere, an older Indian gentleman in a red Nehru jacket swept up the glass and removed it from sight. "Okay, now speak or I'm leaving."

"I really admire what you've managed to turned yourself into, Ms. Mars. I mean, I knew you had it in you, but I was almost certain you'd end up in jail before you finished the academy," he said. "Wonders never cease."

"How do you know I was in the academy?" she asked with a frown.

He gave her a look that said 'Are you kidding me?'

She huffed. "Fair enough. So, why do you need to talk to me about DK?"

It had been years since anyone of the FBI had asked her about Duncan. She maintained the story that she hadn't seen or heard from him since he ran, but in fact, she did still kept in contact with him. Regularly. She contacted him through an elaborate process that nobody but Duncan was privy to – not even Logan, when they were together. In fact, she's pretty sure Logan would have gone completely ballistic had he known she was keeping him out of the loop.

"Mr. Kane needs to contact his son," he said.

"I figured it had to do with Jake, but as the Jews say on Passover, 'Why is tonight different from all other nights?'," she wondered aloud.

"That's very clever. Appealing to my faith, in an attempt to endear yourself to me. I assume this was an attempt to subtly shift my feelings, to make me more sympathetic to your point of view? Did you learn that at the Bureau?" he asked.

"We learned profiling, sure, but it wasn't exactly a huge jump from Wiedman to Passover," she said with a smirk. "And I wasn't trying to win points. I wouldn't insult your intelligence like that."

He smiled. "You're doing it again."

She batted her eyelashes innocently. "Anyway, I don't really care if you or your keeper are sympathetic to my cause. There's a reason Duncan didn't want his father knowing where he was. If he wanted to be in contact with him, he could be, Nobody is stopping him."

"Except you, if you wanted to," he said.

"Sure. If I wanted to." She flashed a shit-eating grin.

"You could also rat him out, if you wanted to," he said, pointing this out to her.

"I could, but I would never do that," she said.

Veronica closed her eyes and pictured Duncan as he looked the last time she saw him: broad shoulders, hypnotic blue eyes and dimples that made her knees go weak. He was beautiful. She often wondered if he'd gotten even more handsome with age, as Logan had. Men had a tendency to do that. Such is the unfairness of life.

She'd gotten many postcards from him, but they were all rerouted through different places and the return address was always different as well. Many were typed, though some were handwritten – but never in his own writing. He probably dictated it to a gardener or a housekeeper.

He spoke in code, often using words that he knew would evoke certain images for her. For example, when he wanted to talk about Logan, he often used the words donkey or rooster. When he spoke of his sister Lilly, he called her satin or kitten. Meg was usually referred to as Santa Maria and his daughter, Lilly, was always 'the princess'.

He didn't have a special code name for Veronica, he just referred to her as 'my love'.

Getting in touch with him was significantly harder, though it could be done. They would meet on a fan fiction website and both comment on stories by an unusually prolific writer named 'Poseidon's Pen'. Her user name was Medusa and his Orion, The Greek God's daughter and grandson, respectively. They would never private message one another, just comment on various chapters in code and wait for new chapter alerts to be sent. Poseidon probably thought they were crazy, but he wrote quite a bit, so he probably didn't dwell too much on each comment. It may not have been perfect, but it did the trick.

"What would it take for you to let Mr. Kane know how he could reach his son?" Clarence asked.

"It would take nothing, because I would never do it. There's virtually nothing that would make me betray DK's trust," Veronica told him firmly.

"Celeste Kane has terminal cancer," Clarence said. "She would like to speak to her son at least one more time before she dies."

Veronica's head involuntarily fell into her hands. She had hated Celeste for as long as she could remember, but she never wished her dead – not _really_ anyhow. If this had to do with only her, she wouldn't cross the street for the aging harpie, but she wasn't her mother, she was Duncan's.

But why should she get to speak to her son, when Celeste had single-handedly driven her own mother out of town? She hadn't heard her mother's voice in a much longer time than Duncan had deprived himself of his. She employed every imaginable effort to rid Neptune (and her smitten husband, in particular) of Leanne, and she'd won. The only thing that kept Veronica warm at night was the knowledge that victory means nothing when you have no one to share it with, and Celeste had nobody, not even her husband (not in spirit anyway).

"I know there's no love lost between the two of you, but he is her son," he said.

She looked up at him and gritted her teeth. "Believe me, I'm painfully aware of that fact."

"Mr. Kane is prepared to reward you handsomely, if you were to help him with this little situation."

"I don't want a dime of Jake Kane's money. If I were to help him, and that's a BIG if, it would be for DK and DK only. And I would only deal with you, not him and _definitely_ not her," she said.

Clarence nodded. "Sounds reasonable."

"If I do this, I don't want to be watched." Veronica cocked her eyebrow. "No surveillance of me using the computer or phone and no bugs. If you do anything close to that – and believe me, I'll know – the deal is off."

Clarence placed both hands face down on the table and became contemplative. "Why are you doing this – and don't tell me it's for Celeste."

"Well, firstly, I think DK needs to be the one to make the decision whether he wants to speak to Jadis, the white witch, or not," she said.

Clarence looked at her with confusion.

"What? Not a Narnia fan?" she asked. "Your loss."

"The term 'white witch' has a whole other connotation where I'm from. Both versions would be accurate when referring to Celeste Kane, though," he said with a smirk.

"Does big daddy know you hate his lady? Maybe we're more alike than I thought. Okay, so here's the second reason I'm doing this: I want Kane to call off his goons and leave Logan alone," she said.

He exhaled. "Yes, I heard about that unlucky event. I'm sure it was harrowing for Mr. Echolls, but I can assure you that my employer had nothing to do with it."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Technically, maybe, but it sounds like Gory Sorokin had a debt that needed to be wiped."

"Mr. Sorokin is not in the business of organizing hits," he said, trying to assure her. "Why would Mr. Kane want Logan Echolls killed anyway? He was always quite fond of him."

"To smoke me out, maybe? I've been living by a pseudonym under FBI protection for the last five years. It wouldn't have been easy to track me down," she said.

Clarence chuckled lightly to himself. "Vivian Wallace."

Veronica's face dropped. "How long have you known?"

"A few years," he said, gloating. "You did a pretty good job of hiding yourself, but you forget that I have friends in high places. If I wanted to, we could have been having this conversation two years ago."

"So, this was just a coincidence?" she asked with skepticism.

Clarence shrugged. "What can I say? An unfortunate happenstance."

Not likely. She didn't believe him as far as she could throw him. He may not have been the one to order the hit on Logan, but it was no accident that her return to Neptune coincided with both Logan's attempted murder and Jake Kane's desire to speak to his son through her. Throw in a Gory Sorokin impersonator hiring Mars Investigations, and you've hit the bullshit trifecta.

"Be that as it may, I'm going to need some assurances. If you didn't order the hit on Logan, I want you to help me find out who did, and put the kabosh on any future attempts on his life. I want him protected," she said.

Clarence's mouth twisted into an amused smirk. "I hadn't realized you two had rekindled your...affection."

Veronica crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "That's none of your business. If you can assure me that Logan is under Jake Kane's protection, I'll contact DK. I'm not making any promises that he'll agree to call them, though. He wasn't exactly a fan of his parents when he left."

"I understand, and you have yourself a deal," he said, extending his hand.

Veronica looked at it for a moment and wondered what she might be getting herself into, then grabbed on and gave it a hearty shake. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to visit the 'damskoy komnate', she said, using air quotes.

"We'll be in touch," Clarence said, then tipped his gray fedora and walked out the front door with his newspaper tucked under his arm, stopping short when he was cut off by a hurried patron wearing a bowler hat. What is it with Russians and their crazy get-ups?

Weevil immediately leapt to his feet and hustled across the room toward Veronica. "You okay, Vee?"

She nodded. "Other than having a raging need to pee, I'm fine."

"Sharing isn't always caring, Mars," Weevil said, wrinkling his nose. "What did the guy want?"

She leaned in conspiratorially. "He wanted me to contact a certain mutual friend of ours who is wanted by the FBI and interpol."

His eyes widened. "Veronica, you are into some heavy shit."

"That's what they always tell me," she said, placing a finger in her imaginary dimple. "Look, you can't tell my dad about this or he's going to go apeshit."

"Why is that?" he asked.

For some reason, she felt as though she were on the verge of tears. "I just – I can't really talk about it with him, you know. He and I are not on the same page about this...friend...you know, with my dad being a sheriff and all. I don't want to put him in an awkward situation where he has to choose between his daughter and the law."

"HA! He should be used to making that call by now," Weevil said as he looked down at her knowingly. "How does the FBI feel about one of their agents cosying up to somebody on their watch list?"

Her stomach felt hollow and she realized a little too late that vodka on an empty belly works a little like sodium pentothol on woman who weighs roughly the same as a large dog. She had said too much and she knew it. Too late now.

"Not good, Weevil. They feel 'not good' about it," she said.

His brown eyes softened. "Is that what brought you back?"

Veronica looked at her feet. "Amongst other things."

"Don't tell me you came back here for Richie Rich, manita. Please!"

"Let's just say, that me realizing I couldn't be happy without Logan, and my issues with the FBI occurring at the same time were pure happenstance," she said with a sigh. Wiedman did have a way with words.

She felt two masculine hands clamp down around her shoulders. "I ain't a stranger to the wrong side of the law, Vee, and I don't really care what you done, but know this: I will always be next to you packing heat. No matter what."

She looked up at him and smiled, fighting the tears of gratitude that were welling in her eyes. If anybody got what she was going through, it was Weevil. To have somebody she cared about, who cared about her, telling her they supported her no matter what she did wrong, meant everything.

She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. "Your Christmas present just got a hell of a lot bigger, Weevs. You will now be getting the large sized tin of limited edition, seasonally-flavored popcorn-of-the-month. Both savory and sweet, just like you."

Weevil rolled his eyes at her.

She closed her eyes as she pretended to think hard. "I think this month is roast turkey and mulled wine."

He shook his head at her antics. "Get out of here and go to the bathroom so I can go home!"

She giggled and headed toward the back of the club, but then paused and turned around. "Eli!"

He turned to face her.

"Muchos Gracias," she said with a wink, then disappeared behind the half-wall that shielded the bathrooms from the public area.

* * *

Veronica let herself into the stall to relieve herself. When she was done, she pulled down her skirt, which had bunched up around her hips like a belt, flushed and then washed her hands at the sink.

"I look like such a hooker," she said with a laugh as she checked out her reflection in the mirror. Lilly would _so _approve.

As she stepped out of the bathroom she felt a hand press down over her mouth, holding a damp rag to it. She held her breath and kicked wildly with her boots, hearing a deep grunt of pain every time her heel made contact with his body. Her attacker was too strong though, and unfortunately, not breathing wasn't a real option. Feeling herself turn red, she finally gasped for air and the chloroform hit her immediately, causing her to fall limp into her attacker's arms like a wet ragdoll.

* * *

When she woke up, Veronica had no recollection of how she got there. She had a strong sense of deja vu though. She held a shaky hand to her mouth to keep the nausea at bay and tried to will her emotions in check. 'Panicky hostages may as well shoot themselves in the head', her dad used to always say, 'because they'll never make it out alive'.

Her head was throbbing, most likely from whatever drug was in her system. She couldn't recall how it got into her, but she was no stranger to the groggy handover that accompanied barbiturates. She dug her fingers into the inner corner of both eyes and squeezed.

Unable to rest until she knew for sure, Veronica frantically checked under her skirt to make sure her underwear was still there. She almost cried with relief when her fingers found the strip of cotton between her legs untouched, and she hugged herself reflexively.

She was okay. No trauma down there but what Logan had inflicted, wearing her out over the last 12 hours. She wouldn't be a victim again, not that kind at least.

But where the hell was she and who had taken her there? And why?

She sat on the bare floor and closed her eyes, trying to recreate the main hall of The Red Room in her mind. There was Gory, Weevil and Clarence, though she would bet money that none of the three had been responsible for this. The waitress's name was Vera, and there were a couple of old, mafia-looking gentlemen Gory greeted, the young guy who cut Clarence off on his way out, and the manager. Shit, she knew she was forgetting somebody. She scrunched up her face and focused hard. The Indian! That was the last of them, the one she could recall anyhow.

Veronica jumped with a start as the door to her holding room clicked open and the sound echoed off the walls.

"Sorry. Don't mean to frighten you," purred a Russian Hottie in a tight black dress, who was carrying a tray with a carafe of icy water.

Why was this chick so dressed up? Did that mean she was in a dance club? A bar? Where the hell was she? What the fuck?

"I like tank top," she said without smiling as she pointed to Veronica's shiny rhinestones, which formed the shape of a bird. "Is bird, yes?"

The PI looked down to her chest and then up again. "A dove, I think. Do you know what's great about doves? When you release them."

Russian Hottie responded with an inelegant snort of amusement.

"Do you know where I am or how I got here?" Veronica asked.

The sexpot bent over and set the tray down on the floor with a clatter, almost spilling the jug and nearly splitting her skirt in the process. Serving was not her forte. Food, at least.

"Yes. They be with you soon, miss," she said, taking special care to butcher every vowel in the sentence with her thick accent.

"They? Who's they?" she asked as the Russian Hottie retreated from her sight.

Just as she sank back down to the ground, she was startled again by an obnoxious, shrieking noise from feedback coming from the overhead speaker. Blood rushed to her head and she could feel the pounding return.

"Hello?" she screamed into the ether. "Is anybody there?"

She could hear a male voice clearing it's throat over the sound system and her forehead raised. If these people can't figure out how to use high school caliber PA equipment properly, she was feeling pretty good about her chances of outsmarting these idiots.

"Veronica Mars?" the Russian man spoke, saying her name as a question. His voice had gravitas, so she assumed he mustn't be too young.

She looked around her windowless room for a sign of life. "Um...yeah?"

"We no want to hurt you, but we will do it if we have to," he said without a hint of menace.

"Why would you have to? I'm a federal agent. What could you possibly want with me?" she called out. She had worked on a few high profile cases when she was in training, but she was only a rookie, and they didn't tend to send rookies out of the most dangerous missions. They usually just sent her to pose undercover as a high school or college kid, for drug busts and things like that. She didn't deal with many Russians, besides Gory, and she didn't really know who else might have a grudge against her.

"Gorya Sorokin? Does this have to do with Gory?" she asked.

She could hear commotion near the mic and it sounded like somebody slipped a hand over it to muffle the sound, though she could still hear the man shouting in Ukrainian at another person nearby. Counting 'Russian hottie', that made at least three people here with her.

"You know Gorya Sorokin?" a different male voice piped in.

"Um...yeah. We went to school together," she said. "We're friends," she lied. She would pretend to be friends with Klaus Barbie at this point, if it would help her get her the hell out of there.

More commotion.

Veronica was growing impatient. "Why am I here? Just tell me what you want from me and I'll give it to you!"

The first man came onto the speaker again and exhaled slowly into the mic. "We want you to contact your friend, Duncan Kane, and we want you to make him come back to Neptune immediately."

**A/N – Just want to thank you again for the outpouring of reviews and all of the follows! I love each and every one of them. I know a lot of thing seem confusing right now, but you're meant to be seeing it through L/V's eyes, so if they're confused, you will be too. I promise there's a plan.**

**I also want to really thank those of you who have left multiple reviews and put this story down as a 'favorite'. I appreciate the time you took to do that!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi. Firstly – WOW! You guys really are amazing at leaving reviews, and believe me, I am taking all of your questions about the plot to heart. To answer some of those questions:**

**- Is this fic about Duncan? Sort of – if you haven't guessed - Duncan is the MacGuffin!**

**- ****What's a MacGuffin? An object of desire that a movie is based around. (ie- Indiana Jones Arc of the Covenant, The Maltese Falcon, etc). Sometimes they find it, but usually they don't. In this story they will (because he's Duncan!)**

**- Does VM still have feelings for DK? Not in the way he would like. This is a LoVe fic all the way.**

**- Is Veronica moving really fast with Logan? Yes, but you'll find out why in this chapter :)**

**- Am I mixing up Ukrainian/Russian – Yes, but not on purpose. My goal was to make all of the 'Russian' characters Ukrainian Russians who speak Ukrainian, but google translate had other ideas for this. One of these days I'll have to go back and fix. Apologies to all Slavic people reading this.**

**- Is Gory good or bad? Maybe a little of both? I love Gory, he reminds me of Logan when he was a psychotic jackass. Maybe Gory will surprise you the way Logan did in Season 1? Maybe he's just a jackass. Time will tell...**

**- Will Mac/Wallace/Dick/Ratner make appearances? Of course! I'm a shameless MaDi lover, but I don't know if it will move focus to include a whole storyline for them, so you may just get hints.**

**- Why didn't Keith run into the club to save Veronica? You'll find out in the chapter – but keep in mind, Veronica is not a kid anymore, she is in her 20's and a trained FBI agent. It would be embarrassing for her dad to try to rescue her IMO, and she wasn't in any imminent danger from Wiedman – her dad knew she was chatting with him about Duncan because he overheard them.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

Weevil walked out of the club and leaned against the unmarked white van parked outside.

No sooner had his feet stopped moving, that Logan Echolls had him pinned up against the car, grabbing the lapels of his tacky tracksuit. "What the fuck is wrong with you, man? How could you just leave her alone with that guy?"

Logan and Weevil engaged in a short but heated wrestling match that sent them both tumbling to the ground.

Keith jumped out of the van and restrained his daughter's boyfriend. "Calm down, Logan. He was following her request," he told him, pulling him up off of the ground.

Weevil's face became tight and he bared his teeth. "You really think I woulda left her with that vato if I thought she was in danger? She knew him, man. She fucking knew him, and he wasn't even carrying a piece, but she was."

"Fine, you abandoned her, but why did you let her take off her wire, cholo." he spat, struggling against the sheriff's grip.

Keith turned the young man around to face him. "Look at me. She's a trained FBI agent. She outranks any one of us standing here. If she told Weevil she could handle it, we have no choice but to let her handle it. She's not a teenager with a PI license anymore, Logan, she's a professional," he explained, shaking his head at the guy. "The FBI is aware that her gun was fired last night and why. They're keeping tabs on her."

As Keith's words washed over him, he felt his fear assuage.

"As much as it _kills_ me every time she rubs it in my face, federal authority trumps local authority," he told both boys with a pointed look. "Love it or hate it – and you know what my answer is – when Ronnie bosses us around now, we actually have to listen."

"Yeah, she mentioned that to me last night," Logan quipped, much to Keith's dismay. "What? I'm talking about after we caught the hitman. Jeez. Get your mind out of the gutter, sheriff," he tsked.

Keith placed a hand over his mouth, most likely to quell his nausea and ignored Logan's comment. "If it puts your mind at ease, I happen to be somewhat acquainted with Mr. Wiedman, and brut violence has never been his style. He prefers emotional blackmail."

Logan kicked the dirt and breathed through his frustration. He knew Keith was right. He also knew that a three-piece suit wearing employee of Jake Kane's wasn't going to hurt Veronica. As much as Jake hated her, he would never allow anybody to hurt her. She was, after all, the only thing left of Leanne's he had access to. The only left of Duncan's, too.

"Well, where is she now?" Logan rasped as he beat the dust out of his jeans.

"She had to pee. You want I should escort her to the toilet as well?" Weevil asked with his well-honed, smirk. "I could always offer to help her wipe," he suggested.

"Huh. Didn't realize you people knew how to use indoor plumbing," Logan said thoughtfully with a creased brow.

"Oh, you are going down, motherfucka," Weevil growled with a maniacal smile brimming on his face. Keith released Logan's arms and flipped around to secure Weevil's.

"Need a little help over there, sheriff?" Leo asked, hopping out of the driver's side of the van.

Keith's eyes widened as he and his deputy shared a look. "Didn't think the cavalry would end up being more dangerous than the criminals," he chuckled and let Leo take over his role as referee.

Keith started walking in the direction of the building. "Now you two boys better not give the nice deputy any trouble while I'm gone, or nobody gets ice cream!" he screamed. "Nobody!"

Logan gave Weevil a wordless apology and the former gang-banger accepted it similarly.

"You two ever think of just getting a room already? The sexual tension between you boys is...epic," he said with a laugh, clearly pleased with the insult.

Logan smiled to himself at Leo's random word choice and turned to Weevil. "I only have enough energy for one of those in my life. Sorry, Pepe."

* * *

_12 hours earlier._

_Logan and Veronica lie facing each other, still panting hard from their first sexual encounter together in over five years. He studies her face, it looks slightly older, more streamlined, but something about her eyes is almost...like it once was._

"_You know, 'they' are right. It really IS just like riding a bike!" Veronica exclaimed with kiss._

"_Well, I can't argue with wisdom like that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can't argue at all right now, since my tongue has lost all of its sensation," he smiled as he reached out to grab her hips. _

"_You not argue? Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Logan gotta repartee," she said._

_He pulled her closer to him. "Maybe I don't want to argue anymore. Not with you."_

_She very slightly flinched before recovering her zen. "Really? But how will I get my daily dose of verbal abuse?"_

_Logan pushed a lock of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You're just going to have to go start an argument with Weevil. Or Wallace. Or Mac. Or Dick." He punctuated each suggestion with a kiss._

_She pouted her lip out. "But Weevil doesn't throw esoteric quotes in my face. I would miss having to race to Google 20 times a day just to figure out what he's referencing."_

_He leaned forward and nipped at her bottom lip. "Is that what you really think I do? Verbally abuse you and throw words in your face?"_

_Veronica seemed to be fighting some sort of internal battle. He could see it all over her features. "No. I don't know why I said it."_

_She was so unreadable it made him fucking mad. Literally crazy. Having a relationship with Veronica was like screwing the world's best poker player. "Tell me why you came back to Neptune."_

"_I already..." she said before getting cut off._

"_Yeah, you're back for me. Blah blah blah. What's the real reason?" he asked._

_Hurt registered on her face. "I really am back for you. Why is that so hard to believe?"_

_He exhaled and then rolled on his back and looked at the ceiling. "It almost feels like the beginning of that Julia Roberts movie where she married the psycho, but for the first 20 minutes of the film he seems like the best guy in the world."_

_She reached over and grabbed his face to turn it toward her. "I assume that I'm the psycho husband in this scenario? Do you think I'm going to start making you arrange all of our cans of food so the labels face outward and make you hang our hand towels in the bathroom evenly?"_

"_You said our," he pointed out with a faint smile._

_She bristled. "Sorry. You probably think I'm crazy for coming on so strong, huh?" _

_He shrugged and caressed her bottom with one hand. "I don't know, I do like a forward woman."_

_She playfully shoved him. "I meant, like, with the feelings stuff."_

"_You know me, there's never such a thing as too strong when it comes to 'feelings stuff'," he said. "But I'm curious what triggered all of this. What was the one moment that made you think 'I should go look up that sexy devil Logan Echolls'."_

_Veronica closed her eyes. "It was more that I was actively keeping myself from going to you for five years and I finally got tired of fighting it."_

"_Fighting what?" Logan asked, rolling back to his side to face her._

"_Myself, and the epic-ness that is us," she said jokingly with a cat stretch. "I was at the park reading and I heard this woman screaming the name Logan, and my heart started beating out of my chest. I turned around to see where you were, but instead a cute, little blond boy came running across the lawn, and I was so disappointed that I started to cry. I missed you with such an ache...I was...bereft."_

"_You were?" he wondered in disbelief._

_She nodded. "I was devastated. It was at that moment that I realized that it wouldn't matter how much time had passed or what we'd said or done to each other, I would never stop feeling this way. And I never want to stop."_

"_Never is a long time." He placed her hand onto his chest. "Great. Now my heart is beating out of my chest. I've caught what you have."_

_She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her mouth to his earlobe. "I don't want to fight anymore either. I want to stay just like thissss," she whispered, sending a shiver down his spine. _

"_Staying like this is nice, but I can thing of a few other interesting positions I'd like to get you into," he said, waggling his eyebrows._

* * *

"You're lucky you're carrying a gun, Leo," Logan told him through a tight smile.

"And you're lucky the safety is on, man," he retorted breezily as he rolled back and forth on his heels.

Leo's radio crackled with loud static, startling all three of them.

"Leo? Leo? She's not in here. Do you copy?" Keith's voice faintly informed the deputy.

"Copy that. She hasn't been through this way, Keith," Leo responded in a calm tone that Logan could tell was too forced to be genuine.

"What happened? She's not in there?" Logan asked with marked agitation, then shot Weevil a nasty glance.

Leo held up his hand to quiet him.

"Copy. I've checked the perimeter of the club and in all the bathroom stalls and there's no sign of her. Copy?" Keith said, his voice beginning to show a bit of wear.

"Copy," Leo answered, acting more reserved than calm now.

"I'm going to check the kitchen and storage room now. Leave one of the boys outside to keep a lookout for anything strange and meet me at the manager's station ASAP. Copy?"

"Copy that. I'll leave Weevil outside with my walkie and take the violent one inside with me. Copy?" Leo asked as Logan seethed next to him.

"Copy that," Keith said quietly.

"I'll assume that to be me. Nicknames are fun," Logan said drolly.

"Navarro, if you see her, or anything out of the ordinary, radio us," he instructed the PI, who answered with a terse head nod and took the walkie from Leo's hands.

Leo and Logan power walked to the entrance of the club. Just as they were about to enter, Leo turned to Logan and placed a finger in his chest. "You don't sneeze in there without asking permission first, got it Echolls? I think you're a loose cannon, and unlike the sheriff, I don't have a soft spot for you."

Logan flattened his mouth into a line and tipped his head to the side. "Seems like you have quite the hard spot for Veronica still though, no?"

Leo smiled lazily at Logan's verbal attack. "Just keep your punching hands in your pockets, man, and we'll be okay."

He nodded, and realized that despite his best efforts to feel otherwise, Leo D'Amato was impossible to hate. He was a cool guy. He shouldn't really blame him for having the hots for his girlfriend. Everybody did.

As they approached the manager's station, Keith looked just this side of frantic. Logan could tell he had been pulling at his hair (what was left of it at least), and noticed beads of sweat covering the older man's brow and lip and pooling at the center of his back, soaking his shirt through. Considering it was December, Logan could only assume the sweating was a result of panic. If Keith Mars is panicking, it's time to hit the bunkers or get the fuck out of Dodge.

Logan's eyes found Leo's and he read the same concern.

"I just came from the back of the building. There's no sign of her there either, but they have surveillance cameras up, so I'm going to ask for the tapes when manager returns from his office," he asked.

Leo surveyed the room and pointed to three of the corners. "Looks like somebody likes to watch."

Keith wandered over to the corners and looked up. The cameras were very small and very well camouflaged but definitely there. "How did you see those, Leo?" he asked with pride.

Leo pointed to his baby browns and smirked. "Young eyes."

Keith just shook his head at the backhanded insult.

Logan wandered over to the bathrooms. If Veronica was in the bathrooms last, he figured he might find some clues there.

The manager appeared, with an expression implying way less concern than Logan would have liked. Seems Keith was already two pages ahead of him, as usual.

As cold as a Siberian winter, the red velvet-clad manager looked up at the sheriff with only mild interest. "Da?"

"I'm the county sheriff. We need your security footage from the last hour," Keith demanded as he flashed the guy his badge. "All of it."

"You have warrant?" he asked in return with an Americanized Russian accent.

Keith shook his head. "See, when you ask me for a warrant, it automatically make me suspect you."

The manager crossed his arms over his chest. "Suspect me of what?"

"A 24 year old blonde woman was kidnapped off of your premises not 20 minutes ago," he said, explaining it slowly as if the guy were a moron, which was unfortunately turning out to be a likely scenario.

The manager pursed his lips and pretended to be interested. "You're talking about blonde whore who was here with Mr. Sorokin before?"

Keith looked like he wanted to punch this idiot's lights out. "She's my daughter."

His eyes lit up. "You're sheriff and your daughter is hooker?" he asked, laughing hard.

Keith grabbed the man by his red velvet lapels and shoved him into the partition near the bathrooms, nearly missing Logan. "My daughter is a federal agent, not a hooker. She was here with Gorya Sorokin on FBI business. I need those tapes now, or I may have to call in the Feds," he said threateningly.

The oily manager held his hands aloft and Keith released him. "Sheriff, this is private club, our clientele expect discretion and anonymity," he said condescendingly. "This is why they come here and not Local Hooters."

Keith crossed his arms and smiled. "I'd like to see your liquor license and latest OSCEA health and safety report, please."

The manager's bravado flagged. "Give me five minutes to collect tapes for you," he said in a defeated tone before scrambling off to his office.

Leo smirked. "Nice one, boss. I'll have to file that away for future use," he said, tapping his head.

Keith looked around and his brows knit. "What happened to Logan?"

Leo shrugged and pivoted to check the other side of the club.

"Sheriff?" Logan called out warily from the rest room hallway.

Keith approached the young man, who was kneeling next to the rubbish bin, holding a fork. "Whatcha got there?"

Logan lifted the fork, and at the end of it was a white cloth with dark, cherry red lipstick smeared on it that had a sickly-sweet, chemical smell coming off of it. "This rag smells like it's been soaked in some kind of solvent, and that's the same shade of red lipstick that Veronica was wearing when she left."

Keith hurried over and took the end of the fork from Logan's hand, carefully not to touch the rag, in case it turned out to be evidence. He leaned in a carefully took a whiff and recoiled. He looked up at Logan and failed miserably to quell a fresh wave of panic that had obviously overcome his body. "It's chloroform."

Logan ran his hand though his hair and turned nervously in a circle, unsure of where to go or what to do, but in critical need of a directive. He could feel his breathing becoming faster and more labored as fear gripped his heart like a boa constrictor, clamping down harder around it with each new and horrible revelation. He suspected if they didn't find Veronica, it would squeeze the life out of him - and he knew if he lost her for good, that he would happily let it.

He leaned face first into to wall and closed his eyes tightly. The last day and a half of his life felt like a dream, at turns both a nightmare and fantasy. He felt miserably low when he watched that redheaded hooker get shot in front of him, but was higher than he'd ever been just a few hours later when he felt Veronica's naked body writhing beneath his. And now, she was gone, and he felt like he was getting 'The Bends' from such a rapid decent.

A warm hand clapped his back a few times and he peeked out from under his arm, though he already knew who it was. "We're going to find her. I know in my heart that we will," Keith said with resolve.

Logan envied the man's strength, and could see clearly where Veronica inherited hers. "I just...I can't lose her again, Mr. Mars," he whispered, tears threatening to brim in his eyes.

He could feel the weight of Keith's pity rest heavily on his shoulders and forced himself to pull it together. "We're going to find her. We will. We're going to find her," he repeated like a mantra.

His girlfriend's father slipped his arm warmly around Logan's shoulders and squeezed tightly. He smiled and looked at him with a kindness he had never seen before in Keith's eyes. It wasn't only kindness though, there was something else, something more...it was pride. He was proud of him.

Logan's brow quirked as he wondered what that look was supposed to convey to him, but he learned a long time ago not to question when he's handed something good - just to say 'thank you', smile and walk on.

"Ronnie is lucky to have you on her side, Logan. We both are," he said quietly.

"Why?" Logan asked as his hands balled anxiously by his side.

"When you were a teenager, I always worried about you guys, because it was always so intense between the two of you. I thought maybe you were hanging too much of your happiness on Veronica, and worried she'd feel crushed under the pressure of being everything to you," Keith said. "Now, you're a grown man who has managed to climb out of that abyss that was your childhood, and you're stronger for it. You don't need her in the same way."

Logan shook his head in disagreement. "You're wrong Mr. Mars, I need her just as much, if not more."

He put his finger up to gain silence. "Ah, but this time, you've got something in you to give back."

"I'd give her anything," he said from under the safety of his hands, which he rubbed over his face again and again, willing himself not to lose his shit in front of the man who's blessing he will one day have to beg for. He exhaled forcefully and brought his features back to a neutral setting. "I'd do anything for her. I love her. Please. You need to tell me what to do next, because I'm afraid of what will happen if you don't."

And he did worry. A lot. Though he had made great strides in anger management through therapy and meditation, it wasn't hard to fall back on old habits. Like a drunk crawling back to his bottle when life gave him a pinch, Logan Echolls occasionally found himself slipping back into violence.

Sometimes, the only way he felt he could manage all of the intense feelings he was holding inside was by exploding, punching, screaming, at walls, at people, and yeah...even at his girlfriend's lamp.

Yoga and surfing made him zen, but it was nothing compared to the rush he'd get when he landed that first that sweet punch. He knew it wasn't healthy. It was an addiction, just like any other, and he had to (ironically) fight to control his impulses. He wouldn't be Aaron. He couldn't be Aaron. There's no way she'd stay with him if he was, so that was that.

Keith nodded toward Logan with empathy as the spindly manager secured a stack of eight tapes with his chin as he brought them over to his station. "I can think of a few things you can do."

* * *

Logan and Weevil jumped out of Logan's car and walked to the gate of the Sorokin mansion.

"Wait," Logan said as he pushed Weevil back behind a hedge. "Who do you think is more likely to get past the gate? I mean, you're _you_ and I wouldn't let you past my dog gate, much less the one surrounding my mansion, but I'm pretty sure Gory still hates my guts for giving him a humiliating, public beat down." he said, weighing their options.

Weevil pursed his lips in amusement. "Well ese, in my professional opinion, rich people would rather have a white asshole in their house than a bald Chicano with tats on his neck who happens to be a good guy."

Logan gestured to Eli, like one would usher a person through an open door. "Fair enough," he said as he bent over to pick up a rock. "When they buzz me in, I'm going to use this to keep it from closing completely. Count to 100 and then follow me in."

Weevil nodded quietly and looked at his feet.

"No smart-ass comments? Nothing? Chihuahua got your tongue?" Logan asked but was met with deafening silence, putting him at unease. He knew Weevil felt guilty about leaving Veronica in the club alone and blamed himself for her abduction. He wasn't sure if it was the grief or the fear taking over, but he actually felt bad for the tough guy. Logan knew Weevil would do just about anything for his partner, so this had to sting.

"Hey Weevil," he called out awkwardly as he walked to the gate. "It's not your fault, what happened. How could you know?"

Weevil looked up at him and gave him an appreciative head nod, then went back to studying his feet. Well, he tried. Veronica would be happy about that.

Logan reached over and pushed the button on the intercom.

"Hello?" a man answered, whose voice he was pretty sure he recognized as Gory's.

"Gory? It's Logan Echolls," he said.

He put a finger to his ear, as he was on the receiving end of a long exhale released a little too close to the mic. "What do you want?"

"It's, um...it's about Veronica," he responded. Why was he having such a problem completing sentences with this guy?

"Are we talking about the same Veronica who kicked me out of my own meeting at The Red Room today?" he asked.

"The one and only," Logan confirmed with an eye roll. "She's...she was kidnapped."

The floodlight on the intercom suddenly turned on, forcing Logan to put his hand in the air to block the glare, then extinguished itself just as quickly as it appeared. A loud buzz sounded and he placed his hand gingerly on the gate and gave it a small shove, nudging it open.

As he passed through, Logan dropped the rock as planned and continued up the path.

Gory, wearing chinos and a white linen button down, opened one too many buttons than was tasteful, appeared at the door.

"When did this happen?" Gory asked, almost as if he was confirming something.

"After Wiedman left," Logan answered.

Gory cursed under his breath and held his finger up and he dialed a number on his cell phone and held it to his ear. "Yeah, it's me. (pause) Yes, they took her, after you left. (pause) I have no idea Wiedman, this is not my area of expertise! (pause) Well, you can tell Jake he really screwed the pooch on this one. (pause) I don't know. (pause) Now, if I knew that, I wouldn't be calling you, would I?"

He looked over at Logan, who was utterly confused.

Gory pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it with irritation, then put it back to his head. "Yeah, you need to take care of this, because it's not my problem. (pause) That sounds like a personal problem. Maybe you should grow a pair. (pause) Well, if I have to, I'll do it myself then. Thanks for fucking up my day. Sayonara." Gory ended the call.

"Tell your mom I say hi," Logan said with a straight face.

Gory feigned a laugh and shoved one hand into his pocket. "I don't know man. I mean, you're a douchebag and it literally kills me to help you out with anything, but...I guess Veronica's kind of cool, so I'll help her if I can."

"_I'm_ the douchebag?" Logan said with a laugh, then breathed through his anger. "Patience is the art of finding something else to do." Keeping zen was a process, sometimes supported along the way with the use of badass quotes from kickass famous people.

Gory licked his lips, clearly enjoying the verbal spar. "Am I being privy to some Echolls family wisdom? I hear your dad passed along more to you than his taste in women."

"Actually, it's Groucho Marx. The only things Aaron passed down to me were my strong nose, the ability to score with any chick I want, and an unnatural love of inflicting extreme and brutal violence," Logan told him calmly, hoping that it might scare him into shutting the fuck up. He knew full well what Logan was capable of, he'd experienced it first hand. "Speaking of which..."

"Did you take her?" Weevil called out from further down the path. "If you took her, so help me, you'll be sucking your borscht through a straw for the next decade."

"How'd that beaner get in here?" Gory questioned with a put-upon sigh.

Logan flashed Weevil a hint of a smile, then turned back to Gory with his psychotic jackass mask firmly in place. "That beaner?" he responded flatly. "I think he came to return the lovely tracksuit you loaned him. Now, if I were you, I'd answer his question, because he gets a little cranky when he's exposed to shiny polyester over long periods of time. He's not fun at all when he's cranky."

"Would I be offering to fucking help you if I did? Do you want me to round up my own ass to put in jail?" Gory shouted with a huff.

And people think_ he_ has anger issues?

Logan's expression remained placid. "I'm pretty sure I never fucking asked for your help, dude. We just wanted to know if you took her."

"Do you see her here?" he asked. "No! I didn't take her. If I had, I'm sure I could be spending my time with her more productively than wasting it out here measuring dicks with you two clowns."

"You're really offering to help? Why?" Weevil asked.

"Like I said, she's a cool chick. There aren't too many of those around, at least none who know how to operate a semi-automatic. Anyway, it's not like you'll get anywhere without me," he said as he smugly leaned into his door frame.

"Why is that?" Logan questioned.

Gory rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and rolled it from side to side. "She was kidnapped from a Russian club. Do the math. So the real question is: do you want Veronica Mars back or not?"

Logan swallowed his pride as well as the bile he felt rising in his throat and nodded curtly. "Yeah. I want her."

Gory swung his front door open and let it bang against the wall and reverberate. "Then get the fuck inside and when you kneel down to pray tonight, make sure you take a second to thank God that you know somebody who speaks fluent Ukranian."

* * *

**A/N - Your reviews are my crack! Thanks so much for all of the ones you've left so far. I hope this chapter moved things along and answered some pressing questions for you. Please let me know!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Just wanted to clear up that Leo's use of the word 'epic' was totally random. He just thought it was funny, but it triggered Logan's reverie.**

**I'm really trying to channel Logan 1.0 for my Gory characterization. He was only in one episode, but I really thought they were exactly the same (when Logan was a psychotic jackass). I mean, the fact that we all love a guy who encouraged his friends to do body shots off an unconscious teenage girl shows how multidimensional Gory could've been drawn in season 4 – and I fully believe he would've featured big in a S4 storyline (Which we'll never get now! Sob!).**

**Pardon any clunky prose or typos. I was trying hard to get this chapter out to you all, and (as usual) I'm unbeta-ed, so things may need to be tweaked tomorrow.**

**This chapter is rated M for sMut.**

**PS - The songs quoted in this are "Time Is On My Side" by The Rolling Stones, and "Laid" by James.**

**HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Thanks again for reading my little story :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

Veronica woke with a start to the music playing over the loudspeaker, not quite realizing where she was. She had slept in so many different places over the past week that she'd forgotten what she was used to, but she knew it wasn't this. She ran her hand down her lower back and smoothed out a crick in her side that she'd gotten from sleeping on the cold, cement floor. That's when her brain caught up with her body and the situation finally clicked: she had been kidnapped.

_Now you always say_

_That you want to be free_

_But you'll come running back (you said you would baby)_

_You'll come running back (I said so many times before)_

_You'll come running back to me_

With barely-opening eyes, she looked around the perimeter of the room for signs of any doors or windows. No dice. She was being held captive in a cement box by a bunch of Russian strangers.

The door clicked open and Russian Hottie, in a tight green dress, wiggled in with a silver tray laden with cheese and bread, that was precariously balanced on her delicate hands. "Dobrogo ranku," she said with a smile as she placed the tray on the floor, just narrowly keeping it level. Her platinum hair slipped out of the clip that was pinning it back and fell into her face.

"Something tells me, this is not your regular line of work," Veronica said.

Russian Hottie unloaded the plates directly onto the floor and lifted the silver tray up by its ornate handles. Even empty, it was barely supported by her weak wrists. "What? I am bad waitress, Miss Mars?" she asked wryly, her full lips drawn into a manufactured pout.

"First, please call me Veronica, and no, this is perfect, thank you. I'm starving!" she said with the biggest smile she could muster. Rule 1 of being kidnapped: the more a prisoner is humanized in the eyes of their captor, the less likely they are to be killed. Mac once told her she became a vegetarian after spending the summer on her uncle's sheep farm. She just couldn't bear to slaughter something she'd grown to regard as a pet. Since then it's been all tofurkey and alfalfa sprouts for the computer whiz.

The blonde knockout smiled back cautiously at her prisoner. "I am Ekaterina. People call me Katya."

"That's a beautiful name," Veronica said. She knew this woman had nothing to do with her capture, but it couldn't hurt to have her on her side. She needed all the allies she could get.

Katya looked Veronica up and down. "I call you Ronja, or Veroshka."

"Ronja. My boyfriend sometimes calls me Ronnie," she told her. "He did it more when we were 14 though, to tease me. He thought I hated it, but I never did."

"You have boyfriend? He is very sexy?" she asked.

Veronica bit her lip to keep from getting emotional. She had been trying to keep all thoughts of Logan at bay since she'd been kidnapped, because she knew what her disappearance would do to him, how it would crush him, especially after all of the promises they'd just made to each other.

She nodded. "He is very sexy."

* * *

_29 hours earlier._

_Logan is sitting naked on the ottoman in their hotel room with an equally-nude Veronica sitting on his lap, facing him._

_She buried her face into the hollow of his neck and inhaled his scent. "I'm staying right here for the next week," she whispered decisively. "So, don't even think of trying to evict me."_

_He placed his hands firmly on her hips. "I'll tell you what, I will give you an indefinite lease for that spot, as long as you also promise to stay right...here," Logan said as he guided her hips back and forth on his lap. _

_She released a breathy moan into his neck and gripped his shoulders. "You're going to kill me with all this sex by the end of the night...and here I always thought I'd die by chocolate."_

"_We can always combine the two," Logan said as he bucked his hips and slammed into her more urgently. "Kill one bird with two stones." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Though you're pretty delicious just as you are, __Veronica_."

_Her breathing increased and everything felt like it was in slow motion, or maybe she was just willing it that way in her mind to make every moment last longer. She honestly never thought she'd be with him again like this. _

"_I really missed hearing you say my name," she said. "I haven't been called Veronica out loud by anybody but my family in five years. And neither of them moaned it in the same way that you do. Thank God."_

_"Veronica..." he whispered into her ear. "I love you, Veronica."_

_Veronica knew it was insane to move back across the country on a hunch, but once her epiphany hit, it was like tearing open Pandora's Box and letting everything she'd been holding inside over the past five years fly free. She couldn't wrangle her demons, they were too large to fit in there anymore. She had no choice but to follow and destroy them where they lived. It was the only way she could ever be truly free of their burden._

"_Shit! Logan, you feel so good," she rasped into his mouth as he kissed her. His hands made their way up to her breasts and she threw her head back in delight. Was it always this good?_

_Sweat glistened on Logan's chest and she glided up and down his torso as they pressed closer together. Her__ tight nipples brushed against as _she traveled, igniting her nerve endings. 

_Veronica needed to feel him inside of her and wished there were a way for her to fill him as well. She'd left him so empty on so many occasions, times when he needed her the most, when it would have made a vital difference to him. She felt driven to make him understand the depth of her feelings him then and now. _

"_Baby," she mewled into her newly-leased spot on his neck. "I'm so sorry for everything. I was such an idiot."_

_He kept one hand on her lower back and brushed the clumps of hair sticking to her forehead away from her face. "Shh. It's okay, Ronnie," he said benevolently. "Don't speak." She could tell he was afraid of pushing her too far and especially wary of letting her push herself._

"_No, it's not. Please listen," she said as he tuned his face from hers and increased the roughness of his strokes._

_He flipped her onto the mattress in exasperation__, flat onto her back with_ hands clasped over her head as he plowed into her over and over again.

"_God..." she gasped through hiccups of pleasure. He was trying to shut her up through sex. That was usually her tactic. How dare he?_

_Veronica flipped him onto his back so she was on top once again, and pinned his hands over his head. He pumped twice more into her and she cried out and fell apart, clenching every muscle in her body around all of his. He followed soon after, closing his eyes when the moment came. It was the first time he'd ever done that when he was with her. _

_Exhausted, both physically and emotionally, she slumped down onto his chest and folded her arms under her chin._

"_Fuck!" Logan shouted as his body still shook from pleasure. _

"_You can say that again," she mumbled into his chest hair._

"_Fuck!" he screamed at top volume, followed by a jubilant laugh. "That was one for the books, bobcat."_

_Her head bounced slightly as he laughed and she couldn't help but smile at his happiness, or hers for that matter. "There are 'books' where you record the intimate details of your lovemaking? Do tell!"_

_Logan licked his lips and gave her a coy look. "Listen Pumpkin Pie, If I told you, then I'd have to...well, you know the drill," he said, throwing his head back onto the pillow. "Though I will be sure to annotate the Veronica chapter to read (singing) 'This bed is on fire with passionate love. The neighbors complain about the noises above. But she only comes when she's on top'."_

_"I only get one chapter?" She reached up and flicked his forehead. "And wait just a doggone minute - are you calling me 'Crazy'? That's the chorus of that song, he calls her crazy!" _

_Still in the throws of self-amusement, he leaned over and kissed her head. "You did say you wanted to live with me. That qualifies you." _

"_Maybe I am crazy?" she said in contemplation._

_His brow furrowed and he sat up, still holding her. "Hey, if either of us is crazy, it would have to be me. I mean, I don't like to brag, but I kind of have the pedigree for it...as well as the police record."_

_Veronica wrapped her tired arms around his neck and let herself droop into his grasp. He scooped her up and brought her closer to him. The steady sounds of him breathing calmed her nerves._

"_Why did you have your eyes closed when you...you know?" she whispered into his neck, too embarrassed to ask the question face-to-face and too nervous to hear the answer while looking him in the eyes. "Is it because you don't want to get attached?"_

_Logan laughed out loud at the concept. _

"_Ouch. Should I leave through the door or the window?" she asked. It had to be bad if he actually laughing in her face. God, she felt like a huge moron for hoping they could still be 'them', but if she's honest with herself, she'd do it again in a heartbeat – if only to just be able to have this night. He was worth taking the risk for, and she may be five years late, but at least he'd finally know that._

_Logan lifted her head off of his chest and turned her face to look at him, his fingers on either side of her cheeks, making them feel all tingly. She forced herself to meet his eyes and allowed herself to get drunk on his gaze one last time._

"_I think I'm way past getting attached to you, darling_. _I closed my eyes, because..." He let out a deep breath. She could tell he was as nervous as she was to be having this chat, so she slowly ran her hand up and down his spine to relax him. "When you left, I was with a lot of girls..."_

"_Yay," Veronica said weakly with a finger twirl as her stomach tightened up at this news. It was the direction he'd been headed before they'd gotten together the first time, and revisited several times during some of their more painful breaks. Sex made Logan feel loved. It one of the main reasons he wanted to have it all the time._

_He ran a hand through her hair and she sighed. "This is not embarrassing for me at all," he said with a grimace before taking another breath for fortitude. "As I mentioned, I was with a lot of girls when we broke up, mainly because I was looking for anything that would help me forget you. But being with them was just a constant reminder that they weren't you, and that I'd never have you again."_

_She sucked her lips into her mouth to keep herself from getting emotional._

_Logan picked up one of her hands and started drawing little circles with his thumb on the inside of her wrist. "It made it a lot easier to pretend when I wasn't looking at them," he said, finally meeting her gaze._

_Her jaw dropped slightly and she could feel herself stop breathing. "What?"_

"_I wanted them to be you, Ronnie. It's why I had to get wasted most of the time before I was with any of them," he confessed. "I guess I just got in the habit and forgot I was with the real thing this time."_

"_When you had your eyes closed, you were pretending it was me?" she asked._

_He thought hard and then a lopsided smile gripped his face. "This time, I was actually thinking about Blake Lively."_

_She narrowed her eyes and slapped his arms two times in a row, sending him into a fit of laughter. "Come on! Of course I was thinking about you! Why would I suddenly be picturing another girl, when it's always only ever been you?"_

_The dam broke loose and tears flooded her eyes faster than she could bring her hand to stop them. "Oh my God, I'm crying like a girl."_

"_I probably cry more than you do, Danger Mouse." His face cramped with concern and he planted small, soft kisses in rapid succession on her lips as he wiped away her tears. "What did I say?"_

_She waved a hand in front of her face. "Just the one thing I was dreaming you'd say for the last week."_

_His features softened. "I am pretty smooth."_

"_Like a Kenny G. solo," she said, nodding in agreement. "Logan, you have to know that I'm never ever going to leave you again."_

_A mixture of pain and mostly fear glazed over his eyes. "Don't say that. You can't say that."_

_Her brow creased indignantly. "Why not?"_

"_Because I know deep down that I'll believe you, and then the next time you leave me, it will be so much worse," he said, his voice almost catching on the words as they left his mouth._

_She pressed their foreheads together and tried to will him to believe in her just one more time. "There's no next time, I promise. I'm not leaving." _

"_Even if I started frosting my hair again like I did in high school?" he asked, testing her._

_She sighed in disgust. "Even then, though we'd be doing it with the lights out."_

_He smiled against her cheek. "Even if if I start tossing Molotov Cocktails into the public pool at the local Y?" _

_She nodded. "Even then. I'd just use your credit card to buy an above ground pool for your backyard, and then invite all of the displaced inner city youths to swim there. It'll be like when I ruined your alternaprom."_

"_I think I'm the one who ruined alternaprom," he said, and an awkward pause followed. "Moving on. What if I'm arrested for murdering the Mayor of Candyland?" he asked. "Would you leave me then?"_

"_Though that would devastate me, since you know how deep my love of both candy and board games runs – I still wouldn't leave you. I'd be like one of those weird women who knowingly marries a convicted murderer, and then shows up for her monthly conjugal visits in the community trailer __wearing polyester lingerie."_

_He couldn't help but chuckle. "Would you believe I spread that exact rumor around about you during junior year?" he asked her sheepishly._

_She left a few butterfly kisses along his jawline."Where do you think I got the idea?"  
_

"_Sounds like you've thought about this a lot," he said with a smirk._

"_I have," she said softly. "It's all I've thought about all week, actually."_

_He crashed his lips into hers and hummed his pleasure against her mouth. "Now, what were you saying about a conjugal visit?"_

* * *

"You have been with boyfriend for long time?" Katya asked.

Veronica checked her watch. "Roughly 30 hours, give or take."

The Russian laughed heartily at Veronica's answer. "You make joke, right?"

She smiled. "I do not make joke, actually. It's true!"

"This is not true, Ronja," she said, with an arch of the eyebrow

Veronica tilted her flat hand back and forth. "It's kinda true. We dated on and off from the time I was 17 until I was 19, but I haven't seen him in five years. Until the evening before last."

"He is, um, vin sporidnenu dushu. Not sure how you say in English. Like...you are only for each other," she said as she twirled her flaxen hair up and secured it into the clip.

"Do you mean soul mate?" she asked.

"Da. Soul mate. Very romantic," Katya said, as a slow smile crept across her lips.

She could feel herself blushing all over. How come merely thinking about him had the ability to put her in a tizzy now? It's almost like she tied the end of a hose in a knot, but forgot to turn the water valve off for five years - then once she remembered what she'd done and loosened the knot, Niagara Falls came raging out of the spigot.

She nodded shyly. "He really is, but, he would probably make me get my head checked if I ever told him that." Veronica finished the last of her Edam cheese and stale brown bread rolls and mourned the end of the meal. It wasn't the best, but for prison food it was surprisingly edible, though not nearly big enough to accommodate her insatiable appetite. Her bottom lip slipped out of her mouth in sadness.

Katya noticed her frown and mirrored it with her own. "You are okay?"

Veronica realized that her new friend thought she was pouting about Logan. The woman was so tenderhearted, that even though she knows she'll feel awful about it, she had no choice but to exploit this new information to help her gather intel for an escape.

"No, I'm not," she said, forcing herself to squeeze out a tear.

Katya placed her hand on Veronica's head and started to well up as well. "Oh Ronja. I am sad for you."

The tiny PI looked up at her captor with wet eyes and sighed. "I'm very worried I'll never get to see Logan again," she said, hanging her head dejectedly before emitting a small whimper. "Some people tried to shoot at him, and I'm stuck in this damn box, unable to do anything about it. What if, while I'm here, they k-k-kill him?" she asked and then immediately collapsed into a sobbing heap.

Katya's eyes flicked to the loudspeaker and then back to Veronica. It was only for a split second, but it did not go unnoticed. "You don't have to worry anymore. Not about Logan."

Her head picked up and she looked into Katya's cool, cerulean eyes. "Did the men who kidnapped me try to have Logan killed just to get to me? Is that why I shouldn't worry about him anymore, because they already have me now?"

The Russian woman bit her lip with trepidation. "I will go now."

She bent over and clumsily piled all of the empty dishes into the tray and hurried out as fast as her sky-high legs would carry her.

Guess that answers the question, they were indeed trying to smoke her out. If that's the case, then it meant Wiedman was telling the truth about Kane's involvement in the hit. If Clarence knew who she was two years ago, he wouldn't have had to stage a hit a week after she got home to bring her out of hiding, and he would have known exactly when she arrived back in Neptune through other channels.

By tangential logic, Gory couldn't be involved either, because he was working for Kane.

Clarence mentioned that all of the events were an 'unfortunate happenstance', but she'd seen enough in her short life to know that there wasn't such a thing as happenstance. Regardless of what happened, there would always be an antecedent. So what was the antecedent here?

The search for Duncan Kane.

His mother's terminal cancer (if she actually even has cancer), made it vital for him to come home immediately. Wiedman asked her to procure contact with DK for Jake, since she was the only one who knew how to reach Duncan, and also the only one he would agree to speak to.

Somebody else wanted Duncan home too, though. Somebody who used Logan as a red herring to bring her out into the open, and was lording his safety over her as a constant threat. They must have knowledge of her past with him, and how much they meant to one another or they could have picked Wallace or Mac. She guessed that they would never try to kill a sitting sheriff, because it would be too high profile, and attract the wrong attention - so she figured her dad was probably safe.

They had to have been bugging the Mars investigations office to know she'd be returning to work soon, and (posing as Gory) specifically requested that she be assigned to the "Sorokin" cheating wife case. Maybe the endgame was always her own kidnapping? She wouldn't have been in that Russian bar, were it not for Logan's attack, and there's no way they could have nabbed her off the street or in her car or home.

A shiver ran up Veronica's spine and she pulled her knees into her chest for warmth. The floor was cold in the mornings and they still hadn't given her a change of clothes, just a few blankets and a pillow.

Through all of this, one question still remained: If they aren't part of the Sorokin family, who are the Russians who kidnapped her and what they hell do they want with Duncan Kane?

* * *

**A/N – Do you want to know what I'm thankful for? All of the amazing readers who have been leaving so many reviews— and with concrit too! LoVe you all! Please continue. Your reviews are the highlight of my day :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N – Black Friday/Cyber Monday had me tied up in shopping knots, so I didn't update over the weekend, but it was a bit of a ghost town on ff over the past few days. I figured I'd wait for people to catch up reading/reviewing this story before I posted another update.**

**PS - Is it wrong that (while most of me is happy for her), part of me is a little disappointed that Kristen Bell is pregnant, because I know that will delay any hope of a VM movie? Sigh. At least we have a 'Party Down' movie to look forward to...**

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

"How long do you think they're gonna keep us waiting here?" Weevil asked as he flopped into an empty office chair next to Keith at Kane Software headquarters.

"Rule of thumb: the richer a man is, the longer he can make you wait, Navarro. This basically means we'll be waiting here forever," Logan said with a sigh as he leaned against the wall. "Of course, it also means that you have got to show up 15 minutes early everywhere you go, amigo."

Weevil held back a smile. "What do they say about little bitches who didn't have to work a day in their lives for the fortunes their daddies left them?"

"Not sure. My Mexican is a bit rusty, but I think they say for an extra twenty, they'll keep our cars parked close by," he responded.

Keith ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Cut it out, you two. My day feels long enough without having to referee between Tony and Bernardo."

"Huh. Veronica referred to us as random Sharks and Jets, so this is a bit of an upgrade, though you two could stand to broaden your reference pool," he said.

"What can I say? The Mars family digs Fosse," the older man said with a shrug.

Logan leans his forehead against the wall and groaned loudly. "I just don't understand how she doesn't appear on those tapes," he complained. "I mean, it's not like she can just vanish into thin air."

"They could have been swapped out or duped from another day and then time-stamped for yesterday," Keith explained.

"Or maybe she's still in the building," he retorts ominously.

"Don't think that way, son. They could have smuggled her out through a secret door or waited until later in the evening," he said.

"You had police posted all over that building," Logan responded. "You still do."

"Yes, but they're not infallible. It's possible to slip past somebody if you know what you're doing, especially under the cover of darkness guarded by men who have been watching the same post all day. Veronica did it all the time in high school," he told the young man. "You need to keep the faith, Logan. You know if it were you missing, that she would."

Logan nodded and then began pacing the small area of the conference room in front of the VPN projector. He knew he wasn't achieving anything productive in his heightened state, but he didn't know where to place all of his anxiety, and if he didn't put it somewhere fast he threatened to boil over.

In his younger days, he would have most likely worked out his agitation by starting a fight with somebody, but right now, the short blue pile of carpet he was walking over was probably the only thing he could safely beat up without making the situation much worse.

He stopped for a moment, noticing a framed poster on the far wall of the room that simply read "Stop being a flatfoot. Let MacGuffin hunt for you." There was no picture, no context given, only the Kane Software logo in the lower corner of the rectangle. His face screwed up as he tried to understand its meaning, but he quickly gave up and continued his march.

"Will you quit it? You're making me feel like I gotta puke, vato," Weevil said with a sneer.

Logan disregarded his reluctant ally and continued pacing. "Consider it payback for when I had to watch you eat that fish taco earlier, _vato_."

Weevil kicked his chair back angrily. "You know, you're not the only one who gives a shit about her. You were the same way about Lilly. Maybe you shoulda been a movie star like your papi, since you're always such a fucking drama queen?"

Logan closed his eyes and absorbed the blow. "Thank you. That was exactly what I needed," he said with relief as a smile crept across his face. He wanted a valid excuse to exorcise his aggression physically. Ask and ye shall receive. When his eyes opened they were hard and black, and he launched himself at the PI with gusto.

Before either man could get any meaningful blows in, Keith grabbed them both by the scruff of their shirts and pushed them into chairs. "This isn't helping Veronica! I know you're both on edge, but fighting each other is counterproductive. Save the ass-kicking for the real bad guys."

Both men backed off but continued radiating hostility.

"How can you be so calm when she's out there with God knows who, doing God knows what to...?" Logan shook his head like an etch-a-sketch, in an attempt to clear the bad images from spiraling out of control.

Keith placed a firm hand on his shoulder and sighed. "As you said the other day, 'this ain't my first trip to the rodeo'. This ain't hers either, you know."

Logan's brow creased. "What do you mean by that?"

"She didn't tell you what happened to her last month?" he asked with surprise.

He shook his head slowly and stared a hole through the table as he decided whether or not to ask a followup question. "Not sure if I can handle any more Veronica-related bad news right now, so maybe we can put a pin in this one, Mr. Mars."

Keith warmly clapped him on the back before returning to his own seat, between the feuding boys.

The sound of the conference room door being opened startled everyone inside.

"Sheriff Mars, Mr. Echolls, Mr. Navarro," Wiedman said, greeting his guests as he entered the room trailed by Gory Sorokin.

Logan locked eyes with Gory and briefly wondered if that absurd conspiracy theory about lizard people was true. If some of the rich and powerful truly were lizard-shaped aliens, his money would be on Gorya Sorokin being part reptile.

"Mr. Echolls," Gory said, parroting Clarence's greeting in a mocking tone, while offering up a false smile.

"Comrade," he responded with a Communist fist salute.

Sensing the tension in the room, Keith slapped his hands down lightly on his knees as a distraction. "Well, now that we're all accounted for, I thought we could start by - - "

Before the sheriff could finish his sentence, another man entered the room, then closed and locked the door behind himself.

Logan gripped the edge of the table tightly with both hands as his gaze followed the latecomer while he made his way to the table.

The older man smiled warmly at him. "It's been a long time. I can't believe how grown up you look."

Logan felt about five different emotions pulling him in separate directions at once. This man, whom he once considered the consummate father and statesman, as well as his personal role model, seemed a mere ghost of what he had once been. As a child he was dazzled, but the person who now sat across from him was just a graying, frail shell of what he used to be. It was almost as if all of the trials and grief he'd endured over the past few years had been finely etched upon his perfect features. The years had not been kind to Jake Kane in nearly every way possible.

Logan exhaled his anxiety. "You think? Huh...and just the other day Veronica called me an 'enfant terrible'. Go figure."

Jake bowed his head. "I'm truly sorry about Veronica."

Logan could feel the bile rising in his throat. Hearing concern for his lover roll off the lips of a man who couldn't give two shits about her safety made him feel like punching a wall. It was lip service, they both knew that, and if there was one thing Logan couldn't stand, it was actors. "Sorry that she was kidnapped, Jake, or sorry she hasn't turned up dead yet?"

"Logan..." Keith said, shooting him a look that could silence the wind.

Jake put his hand up. "It's okay, Keith. I know I haven't always been fair when it came to Veronica. Losing a child changes a man, and in many ways, I've lost two. I'd like to think I've finally found my way back again."

"I saw a tabloid cover while I was waiting on line to pay for milk the other day. If it's true what they say about Celeste, then I'd like to offer my condolences," he uttered, filling the awkward silence that followed Jake's heartfelt declaration.

His mouth tightened into a line. "I appreciate that, Keith. I know she and Veronica haven't always seen eye-to-eye, but deep down I believe she's actually quite fond of her."

Logan laughed loudly at the lack of veracity in his words, finding the counterfeit reconciliation between the two older men appalling He wondered how Keith had the bandwidth to forgive a man who had caused his family such heartache and strife. Between the decades-long affair with his wife, the smear campaign that cost him his job (and subsequently his house and marriage), and the brutal treatment of his daughter by nearly the entire Kane clan, it seemed impossible to Logan that a person would have the compassion to forgive for so much.

Maybe it was a product of his youth, but Logan couldn't bring himself to be as magnanimous, especially when it came to Celeste Kane, the woman responsible for causing the only two women he ever loved so much pain throughout their short lives.

Weevil leaned back in his chair and observed Logan with amusement while giving his tacit approval. One thing the pair never had trouble agreeing on was how full of shit the Kane family was.

"Will you knock it off?" Keith asked.

Logan shrugged and turned away.

"Now that we've gotten all of the _pleasantries_ out of the way, I figure we may as well start with the most obvious question," Keith said.

Jake remained stony-faced. "Which is?"

"What did Mr. Wiedman ask Veronica to do for you?"

Jake took a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling harshly. "I wanted her to contact Duncan for me. We'd like him to come home, for reasons you referred to earlier."

Logan's ears pricked up and he turned to face the group again. How would Veronica know how to contact Duncan?

Keith looked neither surprised nor phased by this revelation, but he did appear extremely pissed off. "I had a feeling that's why she killed the wire she was wearing. When she mentioned your mutual friend, it rang some bells."

"I can assume this means you were unaware of her continued involvement with the younger Mr. Kane?" Clarence asked him.

"You assume correctly – though I've always had my suspicions. I knew she had a hand in his disappearance. She was well-aware that I wouldn't approve her contacting him. I can't image the FBI would either," Keith said.

"My son isn't a criminal, Keith," Jake told him firmly.

Keith's face softened, but his tone remained as authoritative as ever. "Your son is on the FBI's as well as Interpol's list of wanted criminals. He may be that little girl's biological father, but the Mannings are Faith's legal guardians. There was no paternity test or legal motion filed to gain custody through the correct channels, so that makes him guilty of kidnapping, whether he's entitled to have her or not."

"Faith Manning is called Lilly Kane now, and she is _Duncan's_ daughter, in every way possible. He was only exercising his parental rights by protecting her from the monsters who wanted to keep her from him."

"Look, I appreciate that, and I'm not saying that I wouldn't have considered doing the exact same thing, had it been Veronica's safety at stake, but in the eyes of the law he's a criminal. If he so much as steps a toe in this country, or even if he pops his head out somewhere abroad and people notice, he's going to end up in jail for a very long time, and then Lilly won't have a father around anymore to protect her. Also, anybody who had knowledge of their whereabouts could end up being dragged down into the mud with them," Keith explained. "There's no way Veronica would have been dumb enough to help you with this, regardless of her attachment to your son."

Logan flinched at the mention of Veronica's devotion to Duncan, and old fears about being the Golden Boy's placeholder began to eat away at his gut like a parasite that had lain dormant in his body for six years. He always knew deep down it was Veronica who sneaked Duncan and baby Lilly out of the country. As bright as Duncan is, he's not very calculating, and could never have organized the type of subterfuge necessary to pull off a stunt like that.

His escape undoubtedly had Veronica's fingerprints all over it, but what makes them think she knows where he is today? Surely she wouldn't be reckless enough to stay in contact with him when it could put both Duncan and Lilly in jeopardy?

"Veronica agreed to contact Duncan on our behalf," Clarence informed Keith.

Keith winced and swore under his breath. "Stupid, Veronica. Just stupid."

Logan cleared his throat nervously. "She, um...Veronica knows where Duncan is?"

Clarence shook his head. "Veronica knows how to contact Duncan if she needs to. I'm almost positive she doesn't know where he is currently."

"No, she wouldn't want to have that knowledge until she needed to. Too risky," Keith said.

Thoughts of Veronica and Duncan having secret, international rendezvous danced through Logan's head and his hands flew to the sides of his head in a vain attempt to squeeze them out manually.

Gory sneezed twice loudly, which brought the conversation to a halt.

Keith glanced at the third man across the table from him, whom up until now had managed to blend seamlessly into the background, then turned to Wiedman. "Why is he here?"

Gory leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. "I'm the one who arranged this little shindig, sheriff. So much for gratitude."

Logan's memory was triggered, and he recalled something Gory told him at the Sorokin mansion the day before. "Why did you say we should we be thankful that you know fluent Ukrainian, Gory?"

Gory's face fell and he struggled to regain his composure.

Jake glowered at him. "You said _what_?"

Keith glanced between the two men and then over to Logan and the two shared a silent conversation.

"I, um, you know, the hit man who tried to kill you was Ukrainian, right?" Gory asked Logan. "I assume you'd like to get to the bottom if it?" he commented, his indignation beginning to falter.

"I'm actually more interested in getting to the bottom of your involvement with Jake Kane. What did you mean when you told Wiedman that you and Jake were even now? What did he do for you? What did you do for him in return?" Logan asked.

Gory regained his composure. "My business is confidential, so even if you were bright enough to understand the subtleties of my endeavors, I wouldn't be allowed to explain them to you anyway."

Logan scratched his head. "Without an explanation, my feeble mind just might start running wild with theories about the kind of business you two do together. Maybe I should run these theories by some friends of mine who work for the IRS? A full audit of your company should illuminate things for me."

Gory scoffed. "You know people in the IRS?"

Logan gave him the universal gesture for 'obviously', and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Clearly you've never been blessed with a viewing of the movie 'Soul Audit', the 1987 academy award nominee for best sound-editing, starring refreshingly versatile film star, Aaron Echolls. He shadowed some agents for a few months to prepare for his role, then sent them some extremely generous Christmas gifts every year to keep them comfortably tucked into his back pocket. Never can have too many useful friends, he always said."

"Look, all I did was invest in some new anti-hacking software, okay? That's it." Gory slammed his hand down on the table to punctuate his point. "And _now_, I'm done talking about it."

Jake Kane seemed to get tenser each time Gory opened his trap. "Keith, the most important thing is getting Veronica back home safely, and as soon as possible."

"How am I supposed to do that if you're not being straight with me, Jake? You should know me well enough by now to assume that I will always double check the foundation of a house before I start to build on it." he reminded him.

Jake's back straightened.

Keith rapped his fingers on the table in thought. "Software and Russians seem to go together like milk and cookies lately, am I right?"

Jake rubbed the crease between his eyes with his thumb as his confidence visibly waned. "You know about the lawsuit."

"I know about the lawsuit," Keith nodded. "Alexicon really has it in for you, huh?"

"Companies sue each other every day, Keith. I'm barely even aware of half of the lawsuits Kane Software is involved in," he explained, as stress lines began to form on his still-handsome face.

Logan watched the sheriff lure Kane into revealing more than he'd planned. Keith had an unassuming way of tricking a suspect into tripping themselves up on their own words. While he was shadowing Keith for his book, he witnessed this strategy many times. He'd all but hand the suspect an empty gun and let them load it with their own ammo, before accidentally shooting themselves in the foot. A lot of patience and self-restraint was required to finesse a confession like this, and Logan admired Keith greatly for mastering the gambit.

"Certainly a billion dollar lawsuit might ping your radar though, right?" Keith asked.

"What exactly are you insinuating, Keith? I'm only asking, because it's always something with you, isn't it?" Jake retorted snidely.

"What do you know about Alexei Petrenko?" he questioned.

Gory's head picked up and he suddenly seemed rather interested in the conversation.

"I know as much as anyone who reads Tech Crunch," he tells him. "He's an oligarch, a former politician, he's worth billions and owns one of the biggest tech companies in Russia. I've seen him around at a few events, but I've never met him personally."

Keith's eyes widen in surprise. "He's never met you, yet, he's suing you for a billion dollars?"

"Like I said, that's how it goes. We infringe on their patents, they infringe on ours, we have a Mexican stand-off and then eventually everyone settles. The only ones who seem to get out of these skirmishes with their hair in tact are the lawyers," Jake said, getting impatient. "Keith, as interesting as this tangent is, what do you think Alexei Petrenko has to do with Veronica's disappearance?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that," he replied. "We ran the plates of every car in the parking lot of The Red Room. Three were registered to the club's staff, three of them were registered to Petrenko, and one was registered to Kane Software. The staff are all accounted for on video, so that just leaves you and Petrenko."

"I had nothing to do with Veronica's kidnapping," he said.

Keith placed his hands face down on the table in front of him. "Hence, my questions about Petrenko."

As a mystery writer, Logan knew the key to constructing a good plot was to establish a strong and clear motive for each character involved in order to push the story forward. The object of desire was usually the same for everyone, but every character's reason for chasing it was personal.

Jake Kane's object of desire was Veronica, because he wanted her to contact his son, yet she was most likely kidnapped by another man, who was a business rival embroiled in a billion dollar lawsuit with him. What could Petrenko possible want with Veronica? Did he need her to contact Duncan too? He couldn't imagine what other reason he could possibly have for wanting her. It couldn't be a coincidence that Kane and Petrenko were both after Veronica within a week of her dramatic resurfacing.

But Duncan? What the hell could he have that both his father and the Ukrainians were willing to kidnap, threaten and even kill to get?

If there was a common need between Jake Kane and Alexei Petrenko, he would find it, but he couldn't do it alone. He'd need somebody familiar with the world of software development. Luckily, he still had some friends in high places.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Logan stood and walked toward the door. "Nature calls."

Clarence observed him cautiously before jerking his head toward the exit. "Down the hall, first door on your right."

He nodded his thanks and left the room.

* * *

Logan stepped outside into the sunlight, and pulled out his phone to dial, then suddenly changed his mind and walked back inside the building. He didn't want to leave a record of his outgoing call, in case somebody hacked into his account or bugged the phone.

An attractive brunette in her early twenties was manning the front desk. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked with a grin that seemed to get much larger once she looked up from her computer.

Logan rested his arm on her desk and dazzled her with a sly smile. "I was wondering if there was a phone I could use to make a private call," he said as he held up his cell phone. "Dead battery."

She giggled nervously for a reason Logan couldn't quite understand.

"I'm not really supposed to let guests into any of the conference rooms unattended," she started, leaning forward with heavy-lidded eyes. "But...since you're a personal guest of Mr. Kane's, I suppose I could make an exception, just this once..." she purred.

"I would be forever in your debt." He bowed slightly, happy his special brand of charm still had the desired effect.

The receptionist slithered around to the other side of her desk and sidled up next to Logan. "To dial out, you have to have to hit... 'pound'," she cooed.

* * *

Finally able to shake the horny secretary, Logan shut the door of the vacant conference room and locked it, then quickly negotiated the complicated arrangement of chairs to reach the phone at the other end of the table.

He dialed the phone, and after a few rings the call was answered.

"Cindy MacKenzie," the voice at the other end of the line spoke in a chipper tone.

"Mac! It's Logan," he said. "Long time no see."

"Maybe for you. I, however, have seen plenty of you. TMZ has been staked out at The Grand for the past two days. I'm honestly surprised they even let you make reservations there anymore," she said with a laugh.

"Well, to be fair, I wasn't planning on checking into The Grand until my drinking partner ended up getting himself roofied," he explained.

"Oh, I didn't read that little detail. I just assumed it was a normal night of drinking for Dick," she remarked. "If that woman only had the patience to wait another hour, she could have saved herself the trouble. He would've ended up on the floor of the bathroom eventually."

"Well, she was in cahoots with the hitman who tried to kill me," he informed her. "Guess karma took care of that. Karma has a nice way of finding people at The Neptune Grand. It's almost like it works at the concierge desk."

"Jeff Ratner changed his name to Karma? Not sure it suits him," she mused aloud. "So, um...the stories also mentioned you were rescued by a young, blonde, sarcastic, FBI agent."

"They said she was sarcastic?" he asked with mild bemusement.

Mac laughed. "Okay, I added that part myself. So...where is she? I tried calling her dad's house a few times, but Alicia wasn't giving up the goods. I assume you had a chance to talk to her?" she questioned.

Logan let out a long exhale. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"And here I thought you were calling me because I'm such a sparkling conversationalist," she remarked. "Seriously though, what happened? Did you guys have a fight? I told her you weren't going to just forgive her for pulling a Houdini on you."

He cleared his throat. "Actually..."

"Oh my God, seriously?" she screamed into the phone.

"Don't judge me!" he whisper-screamed back into the receiver. "Besides, I thought you wanted us to get back together."

"I do. Mainly because I shudder to think of the damage you two will do to the innocent people of the dating world if you stay apart," she quipped. "So...where's your girlfriend? I'm dying to see her non-avatar form once again."

"We need to talk. Can you meet me?" he asked.

"Sure. When and where?" she said.

"Now and in parking lot," Logan said. "We can't talk here."

Mac sighed. "Oh Jesus, what have you two gotten yourselves into this time?"

* * *

Logan emerged from the conference room and closed the door behind him. The receptionist beamed at him expectantly from across the lobby, and he weakly waved his appreciation. For every perk the Echolls family charm brought, there were downsides.

"Going somewhere?" a voice called from down the hall.

Logan froze. "Just needed to get something from my car," he said before turning around.

Gory leaned against the wall and played with a Kane Software-branded pen, rolling it over and under his fingers, back and forth with the grace of a majorette. "I was hoping I could have a word."

A cheeky expression crossed his mug. "Indefatigable."

The Ukrainian raised his eyebrows and sauntered over to him. "Funny. I was actually thinking 'subterfuge'. You don't really think those yokels are going to be able to find her the old-fashioned way."

"Is detective work 'out'? I'm going to have to read Weevil the riot act for letting me look so gauche," Logan deadpanned.

"I can get you into the Petrenko headquarters," he told Logan. "They're familiar with my family. They wouldn't turn me away and risk starting a war. I also have access to things we might need, like unmarked weapons."

"Guns with the serial numbers filed off. How very Cosa Nostra of you." Logan's expression hardened. "If all of this is true, why didn't you say anything while we were in the room with Kane?"

He shrugged. "I'm done doing favors for Jake Kane."

"So instead you've decided to do favors for Logan Echolls? Sorry, not really buying it," he said. "So...why?"

Gory ran his hand over his mouth a few times. "Look, I obviously don't give a shit about you, but I really regret what I did to Veronica in college. If I had a daughter and some guy posted a naked video of her...let's just say it would be the last thing he did with those hands."

Logan placed a finger to his lips in thought. "You've really changed, Gory, and I'm pretty sure I told you not to when I signed your yearbook."

"Hey, you can believe me or not, I don't really care. I'm offering my help, because I owe her one," he said.

"Yep, it's obvious how much you really like to give it to her," Logan said in monotone.

"Whatever, man. It's your loss," Gory said with a flick of the hand as he turned to walk back to the conference room.

As Logan watched Gory disappear down the hallway, flashes of Veronica tied up and tortured invaded his mind. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath. Desperation makes for strange bedfellows.

"Gory!" Logan called out.

Logan could almost feel the smug satisfaction oozing out of Gory's every pore as he spun around on his heel to face him. "I made you an offer you couldn't refuse?" he asked as he extended his hand.

He closed the distance between them and took Gory's hand, giving it a firm shake. "Al Capone once said, 'You can get a lot farther with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone'. Who am I to deny the wisdom of a career criminal?"

* * *

**A/N – Hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend! In the spirit of the holiday, I just wanted to send thanks to all of you who have left reviews – it's honestly addictive to know what others think of your work, since writing is such a solitary pursuit. Feedback is king - so if you have the time, please do! Thanks again for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi Everybody! This chapter is kind of on the shorter side compared to Ch. 10, which was enormous, but I wanted to bring you an update faster. I would have returned to Veronica's POV at the end of this, but I'm going to give her a nice fat chapter all to herself next time. And I know, it sucks that LoVe is apart right now, but I'm softening the blow with some sweet MaDi scenes. Hope you like it! **

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

Mac emerged from the lobby of Kane Software's headquarters and walked briskly toward the parking lot. She was tiny, lost amongst the rows of luxury SUVs, but Logan could see her chin-length pixie-cut hair blowing in the breeze.

He shifted his car into drive and glided up next to his friend. "Fancy a lift?"

She stopped and leaned into his window. "Are you trying to pick me up, Echolls? For the millionth time, I only like guys who are handsome and charming, okay?"

He grinned. "Get in."

Her brow furrowed. "We're not talking here?"

Logan shook his head. "This entire campus could be bugged. There are cameras everywhere, like that Scientology building over on Segunda Blvd."

She rolled her eyes and walked around the car to the passenger's side. "This isn't weed psychosis, right? I mean, it's just good old fashioned conspiracy-nut paranoia?"

He scoffed. "Get in, wise guy." He opened the door for her from the inside. "Wait! Did you bring your computer?"

Mac looked at him like he was insane for suggesting the possibility that she didn't and then hopped in and buckled her seat belt. "This cloak and dagger shit is_ so _2007, Echolls."

"Yeah well, everything comes back again if you wait long enough," he said as he stepped on the gas pedal.

"So...where are you taking me? To an underground bunker in the Himalayas?" she asked.

He glanced at her sheepishly. "You're probably not going to be too happy with me. I'm taking you to Dick's."

Mac threw her head back and groaned. "Your personal debt to me has just tripled."

"His house is the closest," he explained. "Jeez, Mac. I don't know why you dislike him so much. He's never been anything but nice to you," he said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay."

"What? When was he an asshole to you?" Logan asked.

"Um, when wasn't he? In high school he used to mock me and call me Ghost World," she said.

"He still calls you that," he admitted. "But he teases out of love."

"Yeah? Well, he must've really loved Cassidy..." her words trailed off and an uncomfortable silence filled the car.

"Dick feels badly about that. He really does," Logan insisted.

"Yeah...he said as much one time at the beach when we were in college," she told him. "Right before he tried to kiss me," she winced in anticipation of his reaction.

Logan abruptly pulled the car over to the side of the road, sending Mac careening into the car door. "Excuse me?"

"He begged me not to tell you," she said with a hand up. "In fact, if I remember correctly, his exact words before he ran away in shame were 'Don't tell Logan'."

"So why are you telling me now?" he asked.

"Uh...'cause we're not 19 anymore and I didn't think it would be a big deal. I'm pretty sure Dick has kissed at least 500 chicks since then, so he probably doesn't even remember it," she said as she fidgeted mercilessly with the strap on her messenger bag.

Logan shook his head in disbelief as he pulled the car back onto the road. "Wow. You really do not _get_ guys, do you?"

"You know I don't _get_ guys," she snapped. "If I _got_ guys then I'd be able to get a good guy!"

"Guys don't remember any of the 500 chicks who said yes, my dear, they're haunted by the one who said no. I'll bet you money that Dick has been thinking about that day on the beach _frequently_ over the last five years," he said.

"Oh, come on!" she said and punched Logan in the arm, causing him to swerve a bit.

"Ow!" he exclaimed as he narrowed his eyes in her direction. "Wait a minute...you've been thinking about it too, haven't you? Wondering what it would've felt like?" he teased.

Mac's spine lurched to attention and her fingers returned to the frayed edges of her messenger bag strap. "Preposterous," she uttered rather unconvincingly. "He's...grotesque."

Logan gave her the side eye. "Uh-huh."

"Anyway, it was just weird, you know? Because of, you know, um..." she babbled, unable to complete her thought.

"Beaver?" he asked.

Mac sighed. "Yeah. I don't know that I'll ever be comfortable palling around with Dick because of Cassidy. We're kind of the only two people on Earth who really cared about this mass murderer, and ...God! Why is this still so hard to talk about after all these years?"

"Maybe if you and Dick actually talked about it, it wouldn't be weird to hang out with him? You're both important to me, and yet you force me to keep you separated like food on a hospital tray. If you could learn to tolerate each other, it certainly would make my life run a lot more smoothly," he admitted with frustration.

"Right. Well, making your life run more smoothly is paramount," she said with a snort.

He steadied her still fiddling hand with his own. "Mac. I don't really trust too many people. In fact, besides you and Dick, there's really only Ronnie. I'd just really like it if we could all spend time together without your bizarre sexual tension clogging up the room."

"The tension between Dick and me is not sexual, you dork! It's just...tension, okay? Platonic tension. Just normal, run-of-the-mill, murderer-related, non-sexual tension," she rasped hoarsely before catching her breath.

"The lady doth protest too much," he said smugly and she shot him a dirty look. "Fair enough. I'd still like you to try and get along though," he asked. "As friends."

She leveled her gaze at Logan and her clear blue irises began to sparkle with affection. "I can't promise anything, but for you, Echolls, I'll try my best."

Logan pulled the car into the long driveway of the Casablancas mansion and turned off the motor.

"Speaking of Veronica..." Mac started. "Are you going to tell me where the hell she is, or am I to assume she's been kidnapped?" she questioned jokingly.

His face fell simultaneously with his jaw. "Uh..."

Mac's eyes doubled in size. "Fuck!"

* * *

Mac sat in the middle of Dick's cream colored couch and stared off into space.

"You sure you don't want anything stronger?" Dick asked, as he presented Mac with a mug of tea. "Ghost World!" he called out to grab her attention.

She snapped out of her catatonia and looked up at him blankly. "Huh?"

He handed her the drink. "Let me know if you want me to make your tea 'Irish'."

Her head shook in confusion and Dick fake opened an imaginary bottle and poured a shot in her mug. "Oh. Actually, that would be nice," she said and handed her mug back to him. "Thanks."

He returned a moment later with the altered tea and had a seat next to her on the couch. Mac's body stiffened and she fixed her eyes on Logan until he noticed her.

Logan ended his call and slipped the phone in his pocket. "Jake Kane was not exactly thrilled that I bailed on the rest of the meeting. Aw shucks," he snapped his fingers.

"Anything?" she asked, leaning in.

"Well, the police still haven't told the FBI anything about Veronica's disappearance, but they're starting to sniff around, so it won't be long until they'll have to spill the beans," he told her.

"Why wouldn't they tell the FBI? She _is_ one of their agents," Mac huffed.

Logan shrugged. "Veronica's dad seems to think the Feds may spook the kidnappers, since her whole disappearance might be linked to a business feud Jake Kane is having with Alexei Petrenko, and he may be more willing to play ball if the US government hangs back. Keith's checking into the Petrenko crime syndicate, in case there are some places they're known to use. He's also getting surveillance files from everywhere he can in a one mile radius of the club," he reported.

"Alexei Petrenko?" she asked, taking a small sip of her drink before flinching from the amount of booze Dick laced it with. "The software developer?"

"You know him?" Logan asked.

"No!" She laughed at the thought. "Well, I know _of_ him, of course. Everybody does."

"I don't," Dick announced proudly as he looked to her for further information.

"He's a former KGB officer who made his money from one of those government oil scams, then spearheaded one of the first online telecom businesses in the world. He's a tech god, a genius really. Oh, and he looks and sounds like an 80's action movie villain," she said.

"Like Ivan Drago?" Dick asked.

"No, he's too beefy. Think more like a guy who has the cold-blooded, single-mindedness of Lt. Col. Podovsky from 'Rambo' with the suave personality and looks of Hans Gruber," she explained.

"Damn." Dick narrowed his eyes and nodded. "He sounds pretty badass."

"You have no idea," she told him, her eyes cloudy with admiration.

He smiled at her. "I think Ghost World has a little bit of a crush on Russian Hans Gruber."

"Whatever," she said with a sniff.

"Logan, I think that Mac wants to to get her hands on Russian Hans Gruber's dumplings," he said, his fingers miming the act in front of her as a taunt.

"I do no..." She gasped out of frustration and then pursed her lips tightly to regain control. "Is there ever one moment when you stop being such a...such a...Dick?"

He grinned. "What's the big deal? So you like older, foreign dudes with patchy facial hair? I dig it. Nothing to be ashamed of. Everybody's got their thing," he said, waving his hand for effect.

She sunk dejectedly into the couch with an exasperated groan.

"What did I say?" he asked Logan earnestly.

Mac placed her mug of tea on the coffee table and lifted her MacBook Pro onto her lap. "What do you need to know, Echolls?"

"What's the Kane lawsuit about?" Logan asked.

Mac massaged her own neck as she booted up the laptop. "I don't need to do a search to tell about that. Petrenko and Kane are cross-suing each other for patent violation."

"Talk to me like you're explaining this to Dick," he requested.

She laughed. "Okay. Heavy duty software has many different features packed inside. For example, Google used to just be a search engine and email service, but then they added components like streaming video, teleconferencing, call forwarding, etc. Each of those little things are their own independent pieces of software with their own patents. These widgets or features are often stolen technology, because companies may not have time to develop their own version of this feature in time to compete with the marketplace."

Logan was confused.

"Okay, look. Imagine that I have a bakery that throws birthday parties and you do too, but mine serves these awesome exploding chocolate donuts that only I know how to make and I've taken out a patent on them. Everybody loves my donuts so much, that they've become a trend, and now everybody wants them at all birthday parties. The competing companies have started going out of business, because they're not allowed to make them and nothing else they produce comes close. Your company doesn't want to be left in the dust, and it would take too long for you to design something better through trial and error, plus, you'd lose too much business in the process. It would be much easier and possibly even cheaper to just violate my patent and steal the recipe for my exploding chocolate donuts, even if it costs you a giant payout." she explained.

"I want exploding chocolate donuts." Dick pouted.

Mac rolled her eyes and continued explaining to Logan. "You, on the other hand, may have really amazing red velvet cupcakes that I'm not legally allowed to copy, but I steal the recipe for those anyway when they become a trend. This happens over and over again until we all retire or are acquired. Does that make sense?" she asked.

"I think so," Logan said thoughtfully. "So what you're saying is that Petrenko stole, let's say...streaming video code from Kane, and Kane stole something like teleconferencing software from Petrenko, and they both used these features as part of bigger software packages they're each developing that will compete against each other?" he asked.

"You got it," Mac smiled.

"Do you have any idea what was stolen?" he asked.

"Funny you should ask," she said as she rapidly typed on her keyboard for a minute, then turned the screen to face Logan. "I know everything."

The word 'MacGuffin' in typewriter font appeared on the lower right hand of the splash page onscreen.

"It's anti-hacking software we've been developing for use by the government," she divulged. "Very powerful stuff."

"You programmed this?" he asked her, extremely impressed by her prowess.

"Not alone, obviously, but yes. Mr. Kane told me he'd rather have me working for him than against him," she said, tucking a finger into one of her dimples and smiling.

"I can see his point," Logan said while scratching his head, before discovering Dick immersed in thought. "We didn't lose you, did we big guy?"

Dick's cerulean globes were focused on a random point on the wall in front of him. "Who holds the patents?" he asked.

Logan turned to him with curiosity. "You mean Kane Software?"

He shook his head. "In real estate, assets are almost always put under another name or a ghost corporation in order to protect them from being repossessed if legal trouble occurs. How do you think I'm still living in mi casa after my dad Ponzi-schemed his way through Southern California?" he asked rhetorically. "Jake Kane is extra-likely to be sued, since he's like, a famous, rich dude and stuff. Anyway, if I'm Jake Kane, I'm not going to put my most valuable assets under my own name."

Both Mac and Logan stared at Dick with slacked jaws.

"What? This was my major in college, man. I grew up around this shit," he claimed, with stung feelings. "I run a fucking real estate company, dude!"

Logan held his hands up in surrender. "You're right. I'm sorry. So um, if you're Jake Kane, whose name would you put your patents under?"

Dick shrugged. "The obvious choice would be a spouse, but if you didn't trust your wife, you could be making a massive fucking error, so I'd probably go with my kid, because everything is just gonna go to them anyway when I die. No chance of divorcing your kid, right?"

Mac and Logan exchanged looks and then turned back to face Dick.

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this Dick, but you're kind of a genius," Mac told him.

He gave her a crooked smile. "Took you long enough. I'm not just a pretty face, you know," he said, shaking his hair out.

"Whoever said you were pretty?" she teased.

"Mac..." Logan started to speak.

She held her hand up. "I'm on it," she said and began typing furiously. "It's going to take a little while for me to isolate and research each patent involved in the case, so you two go play a video game or something."

"Drink?" Dick asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Don't mind if I do," Logan answered and followed his friend out of the room.

* * *

Dick pulled two beers out of the fridge and handed one to Logan. "Man, she really hates my guts, huh?"

Logan twisted off the cap and took a long draw of beer. "She doesn't hate you."

The shaggier guy pulled himself onto the counter and pouted. "She does, and I can't really blame her, I guess."

Logan felt like he was back in high school again, but this time, instead of playing Neptune High's disenfranchised alpha male, he was Rebecca James, the guidance counselor. "Why do you think she hates you?"

"I was kind of a douchebag." Dick said, finding himself suddenly fascinated with the his bottle cap. "I...uh, I tried to kiss her once. In college. We were on the beach and Ronnie's brother - you know, that smart black guy – I forget his name, well he was flying one of his inventions."

"His name is Wallace, and I remember that day well. Veronica was there with Piz and I acted like a major tool," he said. "Par for the course back then, I guess."

"Well, I was feeling pretty bad about, you know, Beav...I mean Cassidy, and I apologized to Mac for being such an asshole to them when they were going out," he said. "But then I had to go and ruin it by trying to kiss her like we were at a frat party."

"Why'd you try to kiss her?" he asked.

"What can I say, I'm a horny guy?" he responded with his patented sexyface.

"Uh-huh..." Logan uttered doubtfully.

Dick ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know, bro. I guess...I'm pretty alone with my mom living in Europe and my dad in prison, and Cassidy...well you know, I'm on my own. Maybe it's because she cared about my brother or maybe it's 'cause she's such good friends with you and Ronnie, but something about Mac feels, I don't know...like home."

Logan's eyebrows kissed his hairline. "She feels like home?" He started to giggle. "Dude, you're girlier than she is! Oh, and P.S. You totally want to fuck her."

Dick blew a raspberry. "Now way man! She's not my type _at all_. I mean, firstly, she's hella-smart – don't have too many of those kind of chicks hanging around here, if you haven't noticed. Also, she's got all of her original parts. I mean, she's real pretty and all, just not in a fake way. Oh, and she's not an ass-kissing golddigger like most of my girlfriends. That woman does not take shit from anybody..." he said, emphasizing his point by bitch-slapping the air.

A knowing grin spread across Logan's lips.

"Man...fuck you!" Dick cried with a huff. "Okay, so maybe I don't totally hate the idea of something happening, but she sure as hell does. She looks at me like I've got Crabs," he slammed the beer down next to him on the counter, causing it to bubble over. "Shit!" he hissed as he hopped down from the counter with a completely soaked bottom.

Logan snickered his ass off at his blond friend. "Go out there like that and tell her you're wet. Maybe she'll confuse you with a baby and offer to take your pants off and change you? Hey, you may as well use everything in your wheelhouse, my friend," he suggested through hysterical laughter.

"You suck," Dick growled as he left the kitchen to the melodic strains of Logan's chuckles.

Logan grabbed a rag from the side of the sink and wiped down the wet counter top for his friend. It was the least he could do after literally laughing him out of the room.

After he finished wiping everything clean, Logan balled up the rag and tossed it overhand toward the garbage can, but his aim was off and the rag tumbled onto the floor next to it.

He leaned over, picked it back up again and tried once more.

He missed again.

Logan walked over to the rag and balled it up really tightly this time, his hands compressing the towel so hard they nearly cut off their own circulation - then pelted the rag at the can hard, as if it had wronged him somehow.

He missed again.

Logan ran over and kicked the garbage can with all of his strength. He could feel tears beginning to well in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do to stop them from coming, so he kicked the can again and again, over and over, as sobs erupted from his throat like a geyser.

Just as he started to gasp for air, he felt two hands grab his shoulders to steady him.

"It's okay, man," Dick said softly as he grabbed the back of his friend's head and pulled it to his shoulder. "Ronnie's like a cat, she always lands on her feet." He clapped Logan on the back a few times for comfort and Logan could feel his breath starting to regulate again.

Logan stood up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I just got her back, man" he said and punted the can once more for good measure. "I spent years fucking pining after her, praying she'd come back to me one day. I even wrote a damn book series for the woman!" he called out to the ceiling. "All of my fucking prayers were answered, for what? Is the universe mocking me? I feel like I was given a day pass to the Garden of Eden and then they kicked my ass out." he spat as he launched himself at the bin again. "Man, I wish I never knew what it was like to be happy. If I never knew, I wouldn't miss it."

Dick shook his head. "You're wrong, dude. I've never been happy, but I miss it like a lost dog."

"How can you, when you don't even know what you're missing?" Logan asked desperately.

Dick peered at Mac through a crack in the kitchen door and then back to his friend. "I've seen it. You don't have to know what something's like to want it. You just do."

Logan took a deep breath and exhaled, then repeated it twice more. "What am I going to do if we don't get her back, Dick?" he wondered aloud, his red-rimmed eyes pained with longing and angst.

"You'll get through it, because you won't have another choice. But come on, it's Ronnie we're talking about. She's coming back, she always does. You gotta stay positive, dude" he urged. "Wherever she is right now, I'll bet she's already got a plan in the works. No doubt she's annoying the crap out of the kidnappers, and if they don't toss her out just to get rid of her, I'm sure she's like five minutes from pulling a Tim Robbins in Shawshank. Her tiny ass is probably tunneling a hole to China with a soup spoon right now."

Logan smiled. "Thanks, man."

Dick shrugged. "For what?" he asked, pretending Logan's meltdown didn't just happen.

"Guess I owe you a new garbage can," he said sheepishly.

"It ain't no thang," Dick said as he kicked his kitchen door open and walked into the living room.

* * *

Logan followed behind and arrived just in time to catch Mac look up from her computer and level a peculiar expression at his friend before offering up a genuine smile.

Mac cleared her throat as she noticed Logan enter the room. "You okay there, Shakespeare?" she asked as she tilted her head to see him.

"It ain't no thang," he said as he dropped down to the floor next to the couch and leaned back onto it with his eyes closed.

* * *

**A/N – I promise to get LoVe together as soon as humanly possible, though it may be at least two more chapters. Sorry! Your reviews are my pinot noir – please keep 'em coming!**


	12. Chapter 12

**The timeline caterpillars a bit in this chapter, so if it's hard to follow, please let me know. This installment is a bit angsty, which is not my favorite thing to write, but I promise the next chapter will bring the fun again. To make the angst go down more easily, this chapter has a healthy dose of sMut, so you have been warned.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 12**

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

"Wha?" Veronica uttered as she shot up from the cold floor. It had been two days, she guessed, since she'd been taken, but she couldn't be absolutely sure. For all she knew, she might have been there a week.

Palming her way around her immediate area felt roughly like crawling through a haunted house. The lights were out, it was pitch black, and virtually anything could be lurking in the shadows. It was freakishly silent, but for the soft croak of Mick Jagger's voice cutting through the darkness.

She knew this tactic well. If done correctly, it can cause the prisoner to panic, and panic loosens lips and breeds mistakes.

Beyond the obvious lack of access to the sun, they had been drugging her food intermittently with some kind of insomnia medicine, forcing her to sleep on hard concrete in the same clothes she came in with, and waking her up with this loud fucking music every morning. Or afternoon. Or both? She couldn't be sure. The only thing she was sure of was that she would strangle the life out of Mick Jagger if given the chance.

Since Veronica (of all people) couldn't really avoid eating, she was pretty much resigned to her fate. Clearly these mobsters had rented 'Guantanamo Bay's Greatest Hits' or something, because they were employing Git'mo's tried and true torture techniques like they were painting by numbers. Sleep deprivation, disorientation, and isolation with a sidecar of intimidation – they were working their way through them all.

She had been trained for this, obviously, but it didn't make Mick _Fucking _Jagger any less annoying. She had to admit, the music might be the worst part. The only solace she had was that they hadn't chosen to harass her with songs by Britney Spears or Katy Perry. Now that _really_ would have been torture.

_Now you always say_

_That you want to be free_

_But you'll come running back (you said you would baby)_

_You'll come running back (I said so many times before)_

"You'll come running back to meeeee!" Veronica sung loudly into the abyss. "Oh, time is on my side, yes it is. Time is on my side, yes it is."

Veronica knew the words. She had known them since she was a kid, but if she hadn't picked them up before, she sure as hell knew them now. Like it or not, this song was her only constant right now. With nothing but a foreign void surrounding her, she had to cling to something, and this was all she had that was familiar.

She started to clap her hands along with the song. "You're searching for good times, but just wait and see. You'll come running back. You'll come running back. You'll come running back to me!"

Was she going crazy? Were they succeeding in breaking her? No. She wouldn't be broken by Jagger. Smarter kidnappers would have played Michael Bolton, which would have broken her like a twig in about an hour.

From behind, she heard a familiar sound, and her voice trailed off as she tried to control her breathing. The clicking of a revolver being cocked into position is a sound she had intimate knowledge of, she'd heard it a million times when she was training how to shoot. Strange how it always sounded a little different when the gun was pointed at your own head.

She closed her eyes tightly and all she could see was Logan. He was holding her, stroking her face, and spinning her down a long hallway, stopping frequently to press her up against the wall for a kiss. She could smell him all everywhere and nearly imagine his warmth surrounding her. If this was it for her, this was how she wanted to go out – in her safe place. It may not be real, but she didn't care. She'd spent over five years remembering all of these little details, and if she focused hard enough, she might even be able to trick herself into believing it's real. Almost.

"Veronica Mars," the thick Russian accent she heard the other day called out. "You are going to do something for us."

"Contact Duncan Kane," she responded.

Veronica could hear the man behind her wheezing heavily. She guessed by his tone of voice and the gait of his breath that he was in his late 50's, smoked at least a pack a day and was barrel-chested.

"You have good memory," he responded happily. "Are you ready to complete task?"

She took a deep breath. She recognized this as her 'moment of truth', but compared to her 'moment of truth' from six weeks ago, this was a cakewalk. She'd gladly take a bullet to the brain over what happened to her then. Once you have your throat cut by a psychopath, nothing really can phase you anymore.

"Why should I? You're just going to kill me anyway, right?" she questioned calmly. She was positive that if they were going to shoot her, they would do it regardless. It was either in the plan or it wasn't, and nothing she said or did now would change that.

There was a moment of silence. The man was not expecting this reaction and got a little flustered. "Uh, we don't care about killing you. We want Duncan Kane."

"You're planning on killing Duncan Kane?" Veronica asked pointedly.

The cold barrel of the gun pressed against the back of her skull painfully and she exhaled slowly. No sudden moves.

"We don't have to kill Duncan Kane. We only need him to disappear." he explained without further detail.

What? He had disappeared. What the hell were they talking about. "Nobody knows where he is, not even me," she insisted.

"What about Jake Kane?" he asked.

"What about Jake Kane?" Veronica spat with derision. She'd stay on the rack for Duncan, but no fucking way was she going to go through another minute of hell if all of this was for Jake Kane.

"You are no fan of Jake Kane?" he spoke.

She laughed a little to herself. "Understatement of the year, comrade. Nobody is less of a fan of Jake Kane than me...except for maybe you, I'm guessing."

The gun eased off of her head and she could hear the hammer being returned to it's starting position. "We chat, yes? Maybe we make little deal?"

She ran her hands over her face and her spine finally relaxed. "Yeah, okay. Let's make a deal."

* * *

_Five years earlier._

_Strong fingers drifted over Veronica's naked spine, their journey terminating at the junction of her pert behind before cupping one of her cheeks. "It's official. I am either a moron or completely in love with you," Logan said, followed by a pathetic laugh._

_Veronica jerked her head off the pillow to look at him over her shoulder, her golden hair to fell to her side like a curtain. "You sure you're not both?" she asked, her nose crinkling in amusement, before letting her head drop like a stone back onto the pillow. "I always kind of thought you were both," she murmured into the linens._

_He leaned over to kiss the back of her neck. "You're probably right," he breathed hotly into her ear, causing her to shiver. "Only a fool in love would risk bodily harm to defend your honor," he said as he slowly kissed his way down her spine to her buttocks. "...and I'm using the word 'honor' loosely, since the event in question concerned your sex tape with another man." He sunk his teeth into her left butt cheek, prompting her to yelp and flip over._

"_Back off, Iron Mike. You bit me!" Veronica yelled in mock horror. "And it was not a sex tape!" she shouted defensively._

"_My bad. Your making-out-while-performing-pep-squad-routines-nak ed-tape," he said, correcting his phrasing. "And you should be ashamed of yourself," he chided lightly as the corners of his mouth curled up._

"_You've done so much worse than appear on film nude, Logan," she grumbled, trying to wiggle out from under him._

"_I was referring to the pep squad routine, Ronnie, not the nudity. So d__éclassé, Bobcat."_

"_Oh, I don't know, you didn't seem to find my can-can kicks too déclassé, when I was doing them for you," she said, pointing out the hypocrisy._

"_The audience makes all the difference..." Logan smiled into her cleavage before planting a kiss there. _

_She frowned at his Piz slight, but as his thumbs stroked the sides of her face, all thoughts but one seemed to leave her head. "You and your magic hands are not going to be satisfied until I spontaneously combust like a Spinal Tap drummer, and all that's left of me is a little puddle of green goo." _

_He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deep and long, and nearly stealing her breath away. "You're the sexiest puddle of green goo I've ever been with," he told her with a smirk before nipping at her bottom lip._

"_Ouch." Veronica ran her hands over the top of his head and ruffled his hair."Why is there always a little pain with my pleasure wherever you're involved, Logan?" _

"_What would pleasure be if it were not accompanied by crime?" he said, responding with a quote._

_Veronica's forehead creased. "Who said that?"_

_Logan smoothed out the wrinkle with his thumb and kissed her there. "You're better off not knowing."_

_He was nothing if not audacious, and throughout their long and twisted relationship, he'd made almost a career of seeing how far he could push her boundaries before she'd drop the iron gate on his hand. The truth was, she rarely did. He had a way of talking her into almost anything, though her resolve was so weak where he was concerned that all it ever took was a little shove._

_But, she never thought he'd be able to push her into cheating._

"_Please tell me that wasn't the Marquis de Sade," she said with a light chuckle._

"_Would it turn you on or off if I said yes?" Logan whispered darkly into her navel and then dragged his tongue slowly down her light blonde happy trail._

Veronica sighed. "_You're a moron."_

_He looked up and grinned. "I'm pretty sure we established that a few minutes ago, and yet, here you are."_

_Fingers tangled themselves lazily in his mop of hair and her eyes rolled back into her head as he buried his face between her bent knees._

"_Shit..." She growled into the side of her pillow as he attended to her lower half with gusto._

_Without warning, tears began to prick the corners of her eyes as her pleasure built. She loved Logan. Of course she did. And while she knew in her bones that no one else would ever approach making her feel the way he did, she wasn't his. Not technically, anyway._

_Her breathing became shallow as desire pooled in her belly, but all she could think of was the promise she was breaking, along with the heart of the nicest boy she'd ever known. Like a game of emotional tug-of-war, pleasure and pain fought it out on a flesh battleground. _

_Veronica knew she was out of control. She felt like junkie. She was just like her mother._

_Her climax hit and she gripped his hair tightly as shock waves of bliss tore through her at a fast rate. She called out his name and cursed it repeatedly as her high wore off and reality hit her in the face like a glass ashtray. _

_And then the rebound hit._

_She released her tight grip on Logan's hair and buried her face into her hands, in an attempt to muffle her hiccuped sobs._

_Logan looked up at her with an expression of sheer panic. "What's wrong?" he asked as he quickly hovered over her, stroking her hair as he kissed her temple again and again._

_Veronica couldn't believe he was asking her this. Sure, Logan sometimes had trouble seeing outside of himself, but he couldn't possibly be so tone deaf to her situation that he had to ask. Her wet eyes glowed with intensity as she searched his face for humanity. _

_She telepathically begged him to have a conscience, so she wouldn't have to feel even worse for loving him and betraying her own code, if that were even possible. _

"_Is this about...Piz?" he asked, a frown crossing his face as suddenly as the name spilled from his lips._

_She sighed with relief and would have even smiled if she hadn't caught herself first. What does that say about her, if her guilt over Piz could be erased in a flash with a small acknowledgment of morality by her illicit lover? The irony was as cruel as she was. _

_Veronica nodded and was promptly swept up into a pair of strong arms that she couldn't help but melt into. "I know he's a good guy, Veronica, but he really should've known better," Logan said, amazingly managing to utter something so cold with genuine empathy._

_Her forehead knitted with worry as she grabbed the sides of his face. "How could he, when I didn't?"_

_Logan leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers. "You should have known better, too."_

_She nodded slightly, her expression pained. "Why can't I stop loving you?"_

_Logan pulled away from her as if she'd burned him, his wounded eyes desperate for some kind of reassurance she wasn't sure she had it in her to give. Giving it to him would be as good as admitting she was a rotten apple that had fallen directly next to her mother's fetid tree._

"_Why do you want to?" he asked in a small voice. She could tell this was crushing him._

"_I can't...I just can't be...her! I won't be, because if I'm her, then you're just like him. I refuse to turn you into Jake Kane." she said, through gritted teeth. _

_Logan grabbed handfuls of his own hair and tugged lightly. "Are you fucking kidding me with this?" he asked, exploding in anger, flinging a pillow across the room. "You're nothing like Lianne, Veronica. She's a sad drunk in love with a married man. I'm not married and you're no addict!"_

"_I'm addicted to you," she said quietly, with a shrug. "In a lot of ways we're just like them. We've hurt so many people, Piz is just the latest. I mean, what you did to his face is nothing compared to what I'm doing to him right now."_

_Choking back his own tears now, Logan crouched over her and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her face inches from his own. "Piz is nothing."_

_She recoiled. "How can you say that? How can you be so selfish?"_

_His face twisted into a scowl. "Piz is nothing. There's you and there's me and all of the other crap, all of the other people, they mean nothing."_

"_Duncan means nothing? Parker and Hannah meant nothing?" Veronica challenged._

_He nodded. "People come and go Veronica, but what we have will always be there, long after they're gone. These other people are just pit stops, but we are the destination," he insisted, while grappling for her hands and then tightly holding them between both of his. "Don't you get it? If there were a word that meant something stronger than love, that's what I would feel for you. They haven't invented word for what we have, but you know what it means because you feel the same way. I'll never understand why you always insist on fighting it. Why can't you just let everything go and be with me?" he asked, his eyes practically burning through her as emotion choked his every word. _

"_Because it never works with us," she said, shaking her head sadly. "We're too volatile, and what we keep doing to other people, Logan...it's wrong! How can what we have be so good if we're constantly ruining other people's lives with it? It's not healthy how we feel about each other, and you know it!" she snapped, and disentangled herself from his grasp. "One of us has to be the one to say it: we don't work, and we're just hurting ourselves every time we try."_

"_Oh, you're leaving again? What a shock," Logan snarled. "The reason it never fucking works, Veronica, is because you actually have to BE here for it to work. You actually have to 'work' at it for it to work. That's why it's called 'work'!" He threw his arms in the air in resign._

"_If what we have is so amazing, ask yourself if you're happy? Are you? Do you like who you are when you're with me?" Veronica asked, as she leapt out of his bed and began to yank her clothes on clumsily._

"_Do I like who I am when I'm with you?" Logan repeated in monotone before laughing to himself. "I don't even know who I am when I'm not with you." His body went limp and he flopped backward onto the mattress in surrender._

_Veronica wiped a tear from her eye and took one last look at the love of her life. "Yeah, me either. That's kind of the problem," she said flatly, and __walked out of the door._

* * *

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

_Time is on my side, yes it is_

Veronica's eyes flipped open, giving her a view of the concrete ceiling above her. At least the lights were on this time.

_Now you always say_

_That you want to be free_

_But you'll come running back (you said you would baby)_

_You'll come running back (I said so many times before)_

_You'll come running back to me_

She rolled her eyes in the direction of the loud speakers and sighed. These guys were amateurs where psychological torture was concerned, but she was having a little bit of trouble conjuring her 'safe place' right now. In fact, her safe place was about the last thing she wanted to think about at the moment. Thinking about Logan wasn't comforting, it made her ache to be with him, which only made being here worse.

When she walked out on Logan all those years ago, she truly thought she was doing them both a big favor. Maybe in the long run, life will prove that she did, but it definitely came at a high price to both of them. She knows he suffered greatly when she left, but she can't help but feel she's making him suffer even more right now. The idea that she brought him right back onto this roller coaster ride with her again, is starting to make her feel sick to her stomach. Of course, that feeling might just be the 500 drug-laced pierogies she's been given over the past few days.

Veronica rose to her feet and began to pace the room. "What you don't know..." she began talking to the kidnappers on the other side of the speakers. "...is that The Stones are my dad's favorite band. Once you've spent a whole year listening to 'Jumping Jack Flash' over and over again, nothing is annoying. Nothing."

The door jerked open and Katya sheepishly entered the room, dressed in an emerald green cocktail dress and towering stilettos, as per usual her usual uniform.

"Why are they still doing this?" Veronica asked angrily, pointing to the speaker. "I gave them what they wanted. They can't at least rotate a few Beatles songs in there to mix it up, already?"

"Ronja," she whispered, fear evident in her eyes, "They have response from Orion."

Veronica turned around and tilted her head quizzically. "What did it say?"

"I haven't read," Katya told her. Handing her a slip of paper, she watched for her reaction.

"Poseidon's Pen really outdid himself with his latest story. Already has 63 'likes' and it hasn't even been a week. People do love their smut," she joked nervously before reading the note aloud:

"_My love, this chapter was excellent. They've all have been excellent since your stories came into my life. I love how the princess really grew as a person, and I thought this made the ordeal she went through completely worth it. Hopefully, her story will come full circle in the end." _

She turned to Katya and translated. "He says he and his daughter are doing really well and that she's growing up quickly."

Veronica cleared her throat and continued.

"_If you're interested in other fairy tales for comparison, you should really check out the latest book by that author we both used to love. The story is about a donkey who built these magical, rose colored glasses, that actually enable him to see himself as a prince, rather than the lowly donkey he really is. In fact, these glasses help him view anything he wants in a better light than it actually is. In the first chapter, the donkey takes an actual historical event and alters it, painting himself as the hero in order to win the hand of the fairest maiden. The whole tale reads like a desperate LoVe note. Hopefully, you'll read with a critical eye instead of being swept away by the magic, as you tend to do."_

Katya looked at Veronica with confusion. "What does all of that mean?"

"Logan is the donkey," she said and smirked at the letter. "Basically it says that he resents Logan, hates the book he wrote for me, he calls him a liar, and then he warns me not to be taken in by his evil charms. Can you feel the love?" she rolled her eyes, which gave Katya a laugh.

"Your boyfriend lie to you?" she asked with concern.

Veronica shook her head. "Logan doesn't lie to me. He may be have been guilty of not telling me things in the past, but he has never lied to my face. That, ironically, is Orion's territory," she said before turning her attention back to the letter.

"_I live to read your updates, though perhaps I will be able to read your entire story in one sitting soon. Your know that your work continues to inspire me, and I'd like you to know that I've been doing a little work of my own. I'm just around the corner from being done. I know it's probably crazy for me to think you're still waiting around to read it, but I can't help but hope. You know what I always say: 'True love stories never have endings'."_

"Oh God," Veronica sighed and clutched the print-out to her chest. Feeling a little lightheaded, she reminded herself that breathing was required to remain upright.

"Orion, he love you, I think. I decode your secret language, no?" Katya asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Da. That was a love note alright. Shit," she said with a rough exhale. "What is he thinking?"

"You know what he thinking. All men think this way," Katya said while twisting her hands in concentration as she struggled to remain balanced on the uneven concrete in her death trap shoes. "They tell me he in Oregon right now."

Veronica closed her eyes and brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose then pinched hard. "Oregon? Please tell me there's a city called Oregon in Greenland."

"Nyet, Ronja. They trace IP. Orion in United States," she said, breaking the news sadly to her prisoner.

The petite PI was horrified. How could Duncan be in the USA? Was he insane? What was the point of risking her entire career and her freedom if he was just planning on throwing it all away?

"And Orion's daughter?" Veronica asked hopefully. "Is she with her father?" She crossed everything on her body that she could and prayed hard that Lilly was safe and sound in some far off locale.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered quickly. "We won't know until they bring them here."

"Awesome," she hissed to herself bitterly. Veronica tightened her jaw as well as her resolve and locked eyes with her possible ally. "You've been so nice to me. I know you're only doing this because they're making you."

Katya's knees buckled slightly but she easily recovered. "Nobody making me do anything, Ronja, it my job." she said as her eyes furtively zipped to the speakers and back.

"I can't believe Duncan is here in the States. This is all my fault," she sighed into her hands. "Have you ever done something you really regret, Katya?" she questioned, suspecting she wasn't the only sinner present.

The statuesque Ukrainian looked at her feet then straight down into Veronica's eyes. "You know I have. Of course I have."

* * *

**A/N – Okay, the cavalry is mobilizing in the next chapter, so you should get your LoVe fix soon enough. Until then, you'll have to settle for some more MaDi. I know this chapter was full of melodrama, but the reunion wouldn't be as satisfying if it were easy, right? Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys. Just wanted to answer a few questions:**

**DalWriter– The reason I chose that breakup flashback, is because it was never explained why Veronica left town in the first place. I wanted to show what issues they had, so you could see how she was making different choices that were healthier and how they had both grown up. Logan was co-dependent, but 'found himself' while she was gone, and Veronica was in her head a lot, but figured out how to trust her feelings for him and fully commit (which is why she is moving so quickly with him).**

**Nichole – you are supposed to be in the dark about what Veronica told the Russians. You only know that she agreed to something and that they've located Duncan in Oregon. We haven't read her side of the message board yet, so whether she's really given up Duncan remains to be seen...**

**Silverlining2k6– You are right on the money! Jake & Leanne are a cautionary tale for when people don't follow their hearts :)**

**Kathy0518 – I'm with you on Duncan being a huge liar. I've never been a Duncan fan. To me, he's a taker, a liar (hello-Meg was pregnant and he didn't tell V!), and he let down Veronica 100% of the time when she needed him. Plus, he had sex with her when he thought she was his sister, and that's just...who does that (even when drunk)?**

**Things are lighter in this chapter, I promise! Sit back and enjoy some MaDi goodness :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 13**

"Dammit!" Dick screamed loudly before tossing his joystick onto the table and collapsing in a heap next to Mac on the couch.

Logan, who was engrossed in a phone conversation while simultaneously researching something on the computer, shushed them both like an angry librarian. He was relieved they were getting along, but he didn't need to hear every word of their conversation.

"Suck it! Loser gets the beer," Mac taunted as she handed Dick her empty bottle.

"I can still hear you," Logan grumbled. "Perhaps you could get tanked a little quieter?"

"We're on a dinner break, mother superior. You could do with letting a little steam off yourself. I don't think Dick really feels like scraping you off the walls later," Mac carped.

"That's okay, I have a maid," Dick assured Logan, who immediately shushed him.

He then turned his head to face Mac and groaned. "You're a fucking ringer. You played me," he whispered harshly while pointing a finger at her.

"You have to pretended to be bad at something first in order to be a ringer. I'm pretty sure I've been kicking your lilly-white ass since the first round," Mac gloated.

Dick's frown turned into a smirk. "You programmed this game, didn't you?"

Her mouth dropped open in shock. "What? Is it so impossible for you to imagine that a little girl might be better than you at something? I beat you at this game, so I must have programmed it?"

"You're better at basically everything than me, Mac. Don't take drinking beer and gaming from me too," he hissed through his smile as he jumped up to get two more beers from the ice bucket on the counter.

"If it cushions the blow, know that I couldn't take beer drinking away from you if my life depended on it, Dick. You've got that one all sewed up," Mac called out with a hand over her heart.

Logan couldn't believe Mac was as oblivious to the sexual tension in the room as she let on. He knew she wasn't exactly a player, but she probably had an IQ of 150, so her analytical skills couldn't be complete crap. He waggled his eyebrows at her, which earned him a sharp look.

"You really think I'm better at everything than you?" she asked the tall blonde, impishly.

"Aren't you?" Dick responded, as if she should already know the answer. "Except for surfing, obviously," he said with a toss of his hair.

He grabbed the fresh beer out of the ice bucket and started back toward the couch. As he passed the dining room table, Logan mockingly blew him a big kiss, to which he rolled his eyes.

Mac's brows knitted together in thought. "If you think I'm so great, then, um...why were you always so hard on me in high school?"

He froze, clutching one bottle neck in each hand like they were life rafts. "Nothing. I don't know," he mumbled before sitting next to her again and passing her the beer. His face grimaced. "That's not true. I do know."

There was a long pause where neither of them spoke.

Logan, who was safely separated from them by a sectional sofa, looked at each of them with interest, though his non-verbal inquiry got no traction. He could tell by their expressions that things were about to get weird, and wished more than ever that Veronica was there. Her side commentary would have been gold.

"I'm not getting any younger here, so feel free to answer, you know, whenever..." Mac prompted, clearly bracing herself for the worst.

Dick slapped his knee. "See? That's what I'm talking about."

She raised an eyebrow. "You weren't actually talking, Dick," she informed him.

"There's a lot going on in my mind right now, okay?" he said, pressing his index finger to his skull.

Mac stifled a laugh.

"That's fine." He pouted and took a sip of beer. "I know you think I'm borderline retarded."

"Borderline?" she asked, seemingly unable to help herself. "That was mean, I'm sorry. I don't think you're 'borderline retarded', though I do think you probably could've chosen a better word to use than 'retarded'."

"Why, because you think I'm more of a mental gimp than a retard?" he asked.

"Um, no, because 'retard' is a really fucking offensive word, Dick, as is gimp. How do you not know these things at your age?" she tilted her head back and looked to the heavens.

"I don't have too many friends like you to tell me what I shouldn't say. Most of the people I hang with are models, beach bums and hot pharmaceutical reps. They don't know what regular people think is offensive. I don't have too many friends who are, you know..." he waved his hand to urge her to complete his thought.

"...geeks?" she asked with mild amusement.

"Yeah that," he smirked at her and rolled his beer in his hands. "You know, when we were young, me and Beav were a lot closer."

Mac sat up straighter and steeled her gaze.

"He used to look out for me like that, because he was super smart...but you know that," he shrugged, "And I just felt like such an idiot compared to him. I mean, who wants to be known as the dumb one?"

"Did he know you felt this way?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head and took another sip of beer. "Look, I'm not dumb. If I were, I wouldn't have known the difference and I wouldn't have cared. Believe me, I majorly cared."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "So, what? You punished him for being the smart one?"

"That's not what I set out to do, you know?" he said and rubbed a hand over his face. "One day, in middle school, we went to the beach, and I took my board out on the water. All of these chicks sort of came over and like, fawned all over my ass and they totally ignored him. He didn't even go in the water, he just hung back on the beach and read a book. I thought it was crazy."

"For you, maybe," Mac responded with an edge and took a long swig of beer.

"Yeah. My dad did too, he was there that day. He was real proud of me for knowing how to tackle a big wave, and for being such a stud with the ladies, and all that other crap that doesn't matter when you're old," he told her. "Big Dick likes to shoot at things and knock a ball around, which was great for me, but Cass wasn't so into sports or hunting. He was pissed that Cass was being a loner, so he grabbed his book and just chucked it into the ocean. He didn't really hang out too much with him after that."

"Yeah, Cassidy told me about that day," she said, then placed her beer on the table and nervously bit her thumb nail.

Dick touched her arm and she visibly stiffened. "Hey, I never told anybody this before, but I think Cassidy started little league because he wanted my dad's attention. I think I might be the reason he joined that fucking baseball team," he confessed, his lips pursing with repressed emotion as he white-knuckled her forearm.

She placed her hand over his and met his gaze. "That was _not_ your fault. You may have been a shitty brother, but you didn't get him...it's just not your fault, okay? You wouldn't have let it happen if you'd known," she said assertively while rubbing her hand back and forth over his knuckles until his hand relaxed.

His blue eyes looked up at her, begging for absolution. "You really believe that?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

Mac tilted her head and exhaled. "I know you would have helped him, Dick. You may be a lot of things," she shook her head, "but you're always a good friend to the people you care about," she said softly, as her eyes drifted toward Logan.

Dick's smile widened and he released her arm. "I'm really sorry about that day back during Freshman year...you know, at the beach with Ronnie? It was really uncool for me to make a move on you," he admitted with embarrassment.

"You're apologizing for fucking up the apology you gave me for fucking up? How very meta," she laughed to herself. "Dick, it's fine. Don't you know, everybody tries to kiss me? I truly am that irresistible," she said with a pose.

He looked at her with suspicion. "If I agree with you, you're gonna smack me for being a perv, right? But if I don't, you're gonna think I'm calling you an uggo. It's a girl trap," he announced with certainty.

"It's not a girl trap. I barely know how to do rudimentary girl stuff like gossiping about boys and spreading bulimia rumors about chicks I hate. Believe me, I've only earned my white belt in girl shit. At most," she said, leaning in conspiratorially.

He smirked and took another sip of beer. "I know I was a douchebag about it at the time, but I'm really...glad Cassidy had you as a girlfriend. It's good he had at least one thing go right for him while he was here," he told her before turning his attention back to his beer.

Mac opened her mouth to say something, but Logan came over and swiped her beer off the table, disrupting the moment.

"You guys braiding each other's hair and sharing dieting tips?" he asked before downing the rest of her beer in one go.

"That's okay, It's not like I was drinking that or anything," Mac groaned her complaint.

"I just endured a fifteen minute conversation with Juan Valdez. I think I've earned a beer," Logan decided aloud.

"What did Weevil say?" Mac asked.

"Turns out Alexei Petrenko's secretary speaks Espanol and has a yen for bald criminals. Weevil had her at 'hola'," he said.

"What did he find out?" she questioned eagerly.

Logan flipped open his iPad lid and turned the screen toward Mac. On it, was Petrenko's entire schedule for the month. "Hey! Look who has brunch plans at The Red Room tomorrow morning. Anyone feeling a little peckish?"

* * *

Keith and Leo were huddled over an evidence table, laying out various listening devices, while Logan, Weevil and Gory adjusted the wires they were wearing to better conceal them.

Weevil shook his head in disgust as Logan placed a fedora on his head. "Bet you think you look like a real 'private dick' in that hat."

Dick chuckled to himself. "I always look like a 'dick'."

"Too easy," Mac decided aloud with an amused look.

"Better to look like a PI, than the valet at a mid-priced seafood restaurant. Am I right, muchacho?" Logan asked with a smug smile as he dusted off the sleeves of his pricey sports coat. He could feel his heart beating in his throat but he could let any of them see it. He had to keep it together for Veronica.

Maybe a little verbal sparring with el Baldo will take the edge off?

"Your racist shit is getting really old, pendejo," Weevil growled as he double-checked the clip to his gun.

Logan pulled off the fedora and ran a hand through his hair. "I said mid-priced. If I wanted to be really cutting I would've said moderate. Jeez, you people really have hair-trigger tempers, don't you?" he prodded while nervously swinging his arms like a swimmer warming up for a match. His eyes were focused, pupils fixed at the bare wall in front of him.

"Warming up for a fight, Echolls?" he heard a familiar voice rumble behind him.

"That depends. Are you playing fair and coming alone this time, or do you plan on hiding behind the bushes to watch your goons do your dirty work, like the peeping Tom you are?" Logan asked as he turned around to face Gory, who was holding a particularly nasty looking Bowie knife in his hands.

Gory let the blade bounce off the palm of his hand a few times and then smiled. "I'm not really sure what Veronica finds appealing about you," he said, then shoved his knife into the side of one of his $800 Bruno Magli boots.

"Yeah well, you never did understand women," Logan retorted with a snort. One beat-down wasn't enough payback for this guy, his hand was itching to wipe the grin off the scumbag's face with his fist. He planned to do it too, whether they found Veronica or not.

"How so?" the Ukrainian asked.

"If you did, you would have been costarring in Veronica's sex tape, not posting it all over the internet like a 12 year old with a hard-on," Logan ribbed.

"Having seen all there is to see of Veronica Mars, I'd say I have a good grasp on what makes her...tick," Gory popped his mouth on the last consonant, which only made Logan's desire to pop him in the mouth even more pronounced.

Dick gripped Logan's arm, and was shrugged off with annoyance. "No, it's fine man. I'm good. This piece of garbage can talk all he wants, but when we get Veronica back, she'll be coming home with me. The world's always a little bit brighter when you've got a hot blonde in your bed, and I will."

"Sure, if you make it through this alive..." Gory said with a smug grin.

Mac put an arm around each of the men. "Would it help speed this along if I told you that I think you _both_ have really huge dicks?"

Logan gave Mac the side-eye. He imagined she must've picked up this comment from Veronica. It definitely sounded more like something that her fresh mouth would have conjured up. "A sarcastic elf feed you that line?"

Mac shrugged. "Did it work?"

Weevil shook his head at Gory and Logan with derision. "The time you both waste flirting with each other is time we could be using to find Vee," he barked.

"Ugh. Am I the only hombre here who is _not _on the hook for Veronica? You're all pathetic!" Dick accused at top volume. "Oh, not you, Mr. Mars," he said, pointing to the sheriff who re-entered the room carrying a heavy duty-looking, locked briefcase.

Keith immediately shoved the case under one arm and wedged his index fingers in both ear canals as he walked past.

"Dads don't count, dude!" he yelled apologetically at Veronica's father.

Mac planted her face in her hand. "Just stop."

"You're lying if you're saying you wouldn't hit it," Weevil taunted Dick on his way across the room to see Keith.

"Oh I'd hit it, but I sure as hell would never date it. I prefer women who have human blood pumping through their veins," Dick called after him.

"Dick!" Logan backhanded his friend in the chest. "You're talking about my girlfriend, man."

"You think Veronica's not human?" Mac questioned Dick with a grimace.

"She's as cold as an iguana. She is the 'Lizard Queen'! She can do anything!" Dick shouted loudly at the ceiling through cupped hands.

Keith held his palms up and glared at him. "I'm still here, Dick!"

"Seriously..." Mac said, wincing.

Something about the shaggy-haired man's demeanor softened when she finally looked at him. "Seriously...I like my women warm. Sleeping next to Ronnie would require a snowsuit," he said with a shudder. "And thermal gloves."

"She is warm, she's just not warm to you...for obvious reasons," Mac insisted before slipping her thumb nail into her mouth again. "Why are you here, Dick? You could get hurt, or even worse," she asked, feebily concealing her concern with manufactured irritation.

He pursed his lips and thought about it. "I'm a crack shot. You all could use of of those."

"Maybe so, but still...you...hate Veronica," she stated.

"I don't hate her," Dick mumbled quietly.

"Since when is 'Lizard Queen' a term of endearment?" Mac asked, her arched eyebrow posing a question to him.

"Just because I don't like her all that much, doesn't mean she's not a friend," he informed her.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's _exactly_ what that means. I can pull up a dictionary..." she offered as she swiped open the screen to her iPhone.

"Mac..." Dick put his hand on top of hers to stop her, then immediately pulled it away and averted his eyes. "I have other friends here I gotta look out for, if that's okay with you."

"I'm pretty sure Logan can take care of himself," she said with an eye roll.

He took a breath and finally looked her in the eyes. "I wasn't talking about Logan," he told her, before crossing the room to sign a waiver Keith had been waving at him.

Bewildered, Mac stood as still as a statue as she pondered his words.

* * *

"What's the plan?" Logan asked, his fingers twitching while he stood at attention.

Keith walked past the young men, who were lined up against the wall. "We're going to try something a bit different than last time. Instead of blending into the background, I want you boys to stand out. Logan and Dick, you two are having a business meeting with Gory, to discuss investing in a new tech project he's backing. Mac, you're the developer. I want you all to attract a lot of attention and really throw some money around. Let Petrenko's guys know that you've got cash to burn," he explained as he approached Weevil. "Eli, you're still Gory's bodyguard, so I'm afraid that tracksuit will be making a reappearance, though I'm confident you can find a way to work it," he said, biting back a smile.

"Now, I know I don't have to tell you boys that what we're doing here is not exactly kosher with the department, so if you want to back out, now would be the time," he told them.

"I've already signed your waiver, so I'm in," Dick said. "And I'm packing."

Keith exhaled. "Yeah, about that. Do you have a permit for that gun, son?"

"I own a gun range...and about 500 guns, both semi-automatic and manual," he answered. "So that would be a yes."

Keith's eyes widened. "Okay, well then I guess I know whose house to run to when the aliens invade," he rubbed his hands together. "Anyone else holding besides Dick and Eli?"

Logan sheepishly raised his hand. "It's registered, man, I promise."

Keith deflated. "You, with your temper, and a firearm...not the best combination. I don't really relish the idea of telling my daughter you've shot your own head off, so keep it sheathed unless absolutely necessary," he warned then turned to Gory and scrunched his face. "I don't even want to know what kind of hardware you're bringing inside."

Gory leaned against the wall and shoved his hand into a pocket.

Leo, who was kneeling behind Logan while testing his mic's battery pack snickered. Logan 'accidentally' stepped on one of Leo's fingers, giving him a start.

"Remind me why the professionals aren't going in there again," Mac questioned.

"Mac, honey, they're way less likely to open up to a bunch of cops than to a pair of investors," he explained. "If all goes well, you'll be joining Alexei for bagels."

"What happens if the -pardon my language- shit hits the fan?" she asked.

He gestured to Dick. "You've got a friend who knows his way around a revolver, so I would suggest you stick close to him, and let the shit blow his way."

Dick looped his fingers into his jeans and puffed out his chest a bit.

For a moment, Logan couldn't believe Dick was using this operation as an excuse to score points with Mac, but then he remembered that he was talking about Dick.

"Keep your eyes and ears open. I want a list of any names and places you hear mentioned, and I'll be out in the van across the street monitoring things while Leo runs plate numbers and researches the leads you pick up," he said.

"Where do we go from here if we don't...if we don't find her?" Logan asked, barely able to get the words to leave his mouth.

"We have until the end of the day before the Feds descend all over this thing, and then we're totally cut out of the loop," Keith informed them, and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Let's take a ten minute break and then pack up the van."

All of the players scattered throughout the room to finish up their last minute details, but Logan and Keith remained planted on the floor.

"When we get Veronica back, I'm going to put a diamond on her finger that is so big it slows her down. If she wants to run off somewhere, she'll have to drag it with her like a bowling ball or an anvil," he mumbled to himself.

Keith raised an eyebrow in his direction. "That's an interesting take on marriage."

"I know I sound like a whack job, Mr. Mars, and you probably think I have a drawer filled with her toenail clippings and stolen underwear, but I just can't go through losing her again," Logan confessed as his fingers tangled in his own hair.

The sheriff smiled, crossed the room and wrapped his arms around him. "You don't sound like a whack job Logan, you sound like a guy in love," he said as he released him quickly. "I miss her too, and if I wasn't the guy everybody was looking at to give them instructions, I'd probably be over in that corner sitting in fetal position and rocking," he admitted, then rubbed the stress from his forehead. "You know, when she was a baby, all I ever wanted to do was protect her, and I have done such a lousy job."

Logan almost couldn't believe his ears. Keith Mars was actual human and not a superhero as he was led to believe.

"Well, you did allow her to date me..." he said with a laugh. "But you didn't do a lousy job. You only think you did because you're such an awesome dad and you've got high standards. In fact, she's definitely the only girl I've ever dated whose dad taught her how to operate both a stun gun and a BB gun."

Keith smiled. "I also taught her how to hog-tie a man and break somebody's nose with only her pinky," he said, holding up his little finger.

"Then she's probably more equipped to get kidnapped than me," Logan said shrugging.

"Oh, they would have shot you by now for sure. I probably would have," he said and they both laughed heartily together for a bit before trailing off. "We're gonna get her back," he said resolutely.

For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Logan actually felt himself start to believe that they would, and he nodded. "Hell yeah we are."

"You ready to do this thing?" Keith asked as he gestured to the exit.

* * *

**A/N – I'm still chugging away. Please forgive any typos - I'm trying hard to get you all quick updates and sometimes things slip past me. **

**Hopefully the MaDi stuff made you smile. Please take a minute to review (if you can) and let me know! I love love love hearing from you all. I also really appreciate all of you who marked this story as a favorite :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Wow. Huge response to the last chapter! Thank you for all of the reviews! I knew you'd need a MaDi palate-cleanser after the angsty Veronica chapter. I promise – LoVe will happen very soon. If you don't know my thoughts on Duncan, check the A/N at the top of the last chapter. VM is not torn between them at all, even if this comes as a disappointment to DK. To answer questions:**

**Dlillith21 - Yes, Logan still has a fast, bad temper, but even though he is pissed off easily, he has yet to throw one punch, so he _has _actually matured quite a bit. Think back to the many times he tried to knock out Weevil in high school. It's only been five years and he's been keeping it together. He'll always have a sharp tongue.**

**Everyone – Glad you all find Weevil in a tracksuit as funny as I do. Google image search "Russian wearing tracksuit to wedding" for a laugh. They really dig athletic-wear. LOL.**

**Okay, enough of my rambling. Buckle up—this is the chapter where the action starts. FYI – it changes perspective from V to L halfway through.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 14**

Katya opened the door to Veronica's cell and brought in a tray of food. "Good morning, Ronja," she sang sweetly as she teetered over to her charge.

The first thing she noticed was no music This was certainly something new and beyond appreciated, but what did it mean?

The Ukrainian uneasily bent down to place the tray on the floor and nearly fell.

Veronica's eyes widened. "Woah! Let me take that for you," she insisted as she lunged for the tray.

Katya looked at her with gratitude. "You save my life, I think."

"I don't know how you've managed to stay alive this long when you walk around in those all day," she said, pointing to her five inch stilettos as she lifted her coffee mug to her lips.

Her captor gave her a beleaguered nod. "My father thinks I should dress like lady all the time," she complained.

"Your father's got some high standards," Veronica said as she stretched out her legs. "I used to dress like a lady, once upon a time."

Katya pointed to her outfit. "You look like lady," she said. "I like dove shirt and jeans skirt."

"Oh Katya, if you only knew the last time I wore a skirt," she said with a sigh. "And believe me, I probably won't be wearing one again for a long while after...four?" she looked at Katya for guidance, then decided to push ahead confident in her guess. "After four days and three nights of wearing this contraption, I am more than ready to slip on an old pair of jeans."

After countless forced 'naps' in her windowless cell, Veronica finally had figured out a way to judge how long she'd been gone. Having a polite jailor who always bids you 'good morning' and 'good evening' every day helps quite a bit. All she had to do was remember and count, which wasn't too hard for a woman with a memory like a steel trap.

"You like jeans but maybe Logan more like you in sexy clothes?" Katya placed a delicate hand on her hip and threw her hair back, effortlessly aping a supermodel pose.

"Oh Logan like, it's Ronja who's not the biggest fan of the micro-mini. I mean, I could probably be comfortable in something like that fabulous dress..." she gestured to Katya's sapphire silk shift dress, and prayed she was a good enough actress to pull this off. "...but this is just too short and too scratchy...not to mention in great need of a good wash."

Katya's eyes lit up and she ran he hand down her silky hips. "You like my dress?" she asked.

"Like it?" Veronica exclaimed. "It's beautiful, but all of your clothes are. I mean, I probably wouldn't ever be able to pull something like that off though," she said, putting a hand to her cheek in pretend thought. "...seeing as I've ever worn a cocktail dress before."

Katya was beside herself. "No. You're lying. You have never had dress like this?"

Veronica narrowed her eyes and leaned in to look at it more closely. "Nope. We didn't have much money growing up for things like that. Also, my mother...left us, and so I didn't have a women around to take me shopping properly."

The amazon knelt as best she could in her dress and threw her arms around Veronica. "My mother left us too," she whispered tearfully. "We are sisters, yes?"

Guilt started to slowly creep in, but Veronica hurriedly brushed it away like a fruit fly and tried to forced herself to weep. She buried her head into Katya's shoulder and covertly yanked a single hair out of her own nose. "Oh God!" she sobbed. Sure it was gross, but pulling out a nose hair was the fastest route to Tear City.

Katya pulled back and held her new friend at arm's length. Both women were crying now. "Ronja...I want you to have dress," she announced, as if it were her own idea and not something she had been cleverly manipulated into doing.

Veronica's eyes popped in engineered shock. "No! I couldn't!"

The taller blonde brushed a strand of hair from Veronica's face. "You can and you will. I will go get change and bring back to you."

"Really? Are you serious?" Veronica squealed with genuine excitement, before zigzagging into faux sadness once again. "Do you think they'll let me though?" she asked, glancing at the small camera in the corner of the room with puppy dog eyes.

"They let you. I make them," Katya promised, then looked bitterly at the camera and scowled. "YA dayu ïy suknyu , i vy ne mozhete zupynyty mene!" she shouted at the device before tearing out of the room angrily.

Veronica exhaled the breath she had been holding and turned to face away from the camera. She twisted her jean skirt around and peered down at the zipper, which was barely holding on by a thread. She had managed to pull the stitching out at night in the dark when the cameras couldn't see her working on it.

She then reached under her shirt and slid out the underwire from her bra, which she had also managed to free, then looked down at her breasts. Sadly, the absence of the underwire barely affected her profile.

As she waited for Katya's return, she thought of the many times she and Lilly used to experiment with different bras and shirts, in a joint-but-vain effort to find the one that would give her the volume of cleavage that her best friend desired for her. Mac had no time or interest in playing dress up, and Veronica didn't know too many women in the Bureau, so it had been quite some time since she had done something like this with a girlfriend, even if she was just faking it.

She had forgotten how much she missed hanging out with women. In other circumstances, maybe she and Katya could have even been friends. Maybe that was part of her problem with men?

For nearly her entire high school career and beyond, it had been just Veronica and her father against the world. He gave her everything he had, but there are some things an adolescent girl can only get from her mother.

With no girlfriends but Meg to speak of after Lilly's death, she really had no role model. Meg had been feminine, of course, but her own mother had beaten the sexy out of her years before, so she was as lost as Veronica in that regard. Being the last two virgins at school didn't help them either, as they were truly the blind leading the blind.

Though confident in most ways, being raped had a way of pulling the rug out from under her self-esteem where her love life is concerned. Though she tried not to dwell, she often thought about what she might have been like had Lilly not been murdered, thus throwing her world order into complete chaos. Perhaps she'd still be with Duncan, and her mom would be busy planning her wedding right now?

She smiled at the thought – not the idea of marrying Duncan, but the knowledge that everything turned out exactly the way it should have. If things hadn't gone the way they had, she wouldn't have known how to fend for herself, or become a field agent, and she definitely wouldn't have been at the Camelot that fateful day when Logan gave her the kind of mind-blowing kiss that rearranges a person's DNA.

For that alone she'd live through it all again, even the parts she wished she could block out forever.

Katya knocked on the door before entering the room and scurried inside, clutching a pale yellow frock to her chest. She giggled with excitement while she rushed over to Veronica. "I make them turn camera off," she assured her.

She what? Veronica felt like pinching herself, because this was going much more swimmingly than she'd imagined. A little too swimmingly, maybe? Katya may be astoundingly gorgeous, but she could tell she was no dummy, even with the language barrier.

Veronica took off her jacket with the contraband carefully hidden inside, and dropped it to the floor next to her, then lifted her tank top off over her head.

Katya took one look at Veronica's mangled bra and looked pityingly on her. "Maybe wear without bra, yes?" she suggested as she stripped out of her blue dress and handed it over.

Veronica managed a smile before dropping her skirt to the ground. "If you really like this, I want you to have it..." she said, offering the dove shirt to her benefactor, who gasped with glee at the prospect. "You, uh...probably should wash it first. Like, a lot."

Katya snatched the tank-top from her hands and gave Veronica a smile that could light up Coney island. "Duzhe. That mean thank you in Ukrainian," she said as she zipped up her yellow dress.

Swatting away the guilt again and returned the smile. "No, I should be the one saying duzhe. Seriously."

By the time they were finished dressing, Katya was nearly in tears again. "How it feels to be wearing beautiful dress for first time, Ronja?"

Veronica felt so bad for deceiving this kind woman, that she didn't have to work too hard this time to produce counterfeit tears. "Amazing. I just wish I could see what it looked like," she told her while pretending to look around for a reflective surface.

Katya grabbed her wrist. "We go to bathroom," she declared and pulled Veronica out of the room behind her.

* * *

She had been down this hallway before, though every single time in the past they had turned the lights out, but she knew the way by feel. "Can I ask you something?" she whispered to her determined fashionista. "Has something happened here today that I'm unaware of?"

"Why you ask?" Katya responded.

Veronica looked around to make sure there was nobody skulking nearby who could overhear her. "There was no music today to wake me, and you're letting me change my clothes and the camera was turned off..."

Katya opened the bathroom door and followed Veronica inside before locking it behind them. Deep down Veronica already knew the catalyst for this new laissez faire attitude toward her captivity. They didn't care about her anymore because they had already gotten everything she could give them.

"They bring in little girl today," she whispered nervously.

Veronica exhaled hard and collected her thoughts This was not unexpected. "Okay, how old? Was she blonde?"

"Yes, blonde," Katya confirmed, while shaking her head in thought, "Maybe she six or seven. I can't say for sure."

"Was she – was she with a man around our age?" she asked with a wavering voice. "I don't know what color hair he'd have now, or if he has a beard, but he has these beautiful blue eyes and is about this tall," she demonstrated with her hand.

Katya listened with interest and nodded. "Yes. I think is him."

For the first time today, Veronica shed real tears. She buried her face into her hands, and Katya enveloped the tiny woman in her arms while she sobbed. After a few moments of weakness, Veronica managed to pull herself together and grabbed a tissue to wipe her face clean in the mirror. It was then, that she remembered that her new friend had yet to even bring up the full-length mirror in front of them, which was the purpose of this bathroom visit in the first place. "You knew I was lying about the dress," she said simply.

The sides of Katya's mouth curled up and she dropped all pretense. "What girl doesn't own dress before?" she asked with a smirk.

"And here, this whole time I thought_ I _was the puppetmaster," she admitted, tilting her head to the side as she admired her new dress. It was a good thing Katya liked to wear her clothes tight, because it turned out to be the perfect size for Veronica when it was worn as intended.

"It looks good, yes?" Katya asked, gesturing to Veronica's reflection in the mirror.

"Yes it does," she nodded, then immediately switched gears. "So, are they planning on killing me, Katya?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible. She needed details, regardless of how upsetting they might be.

She shrugged as she absentmindedly tied the bow on her own dress. "I don't know."

Veronica's brow furrowed. "You're planning on letting me go?"

Katya looked agitated and balled her hands into fists. "When I saw little girl, she was very scared and crying. They put daddy in different room, so she was all alone. You keep little girl safe," she demanded.

She nodded. "Yes. I will keep the little girl safe. You can bank on it. Now where is she?"

The door opened a crack and Katya pointed to a room at the end of the hall. "I don't have gun for you, I'm sorry. Please hurry. They be back soon."

Veronica looked down the hallway. "How long do I have?"

"They having lunch upstairs in cafe," she said.

Veronica gasped loudly and covered her mouth with both hands. "Are we under The Red Room?"

Katya nodded and handed Veronica a key. "Please hurry. I go upstairs and keep them there as long as I can. When you have her, you will leave through kitchen door, it is safest. Good luck Ronja."

She took her jailor's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Duzhe," she whispered before running off toward her God-daughter.

* * *

Veronica approached the door at the end of the hallway and slipped the key into the lock. She was eager to enter, but couldn't help taking a moment to glance ruefully at the door to her right that she suspected contained her old love.

"Katya?" a small voice called out from inside. "Have you come back?"

Veronica opened the door further and stepped into the room before quietly shutting the door behind her. When she turned around, the site she was greeted with was heart-stopping. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the original Lilly Kane stood before her, reincarnated.

"Lilly?" she asked needlessly, bringing a shaky hand to her mouth.

The little girl looked up at her quizzically, until recognition washed over her and she exploded in a dazzling smile that Veronica had only seen one other person capable of achieving before. "Auntie Vee?"

Tears of happiness steamed down Veronica's face as she ran to the little girl and swooped her up into her arms. "Oh my God. Oh my God, Lilly. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this," she whispered into her hair and then kissed the top of her golden head over and over again.

When she pulled back, she could see that Lilly was crying too. She began to giggle in disbelief at the sight of the small girl before her and then gently smoothed the hair that had been sticking to her tears out of her face, so she could see her better. "I can't believe it's really you."

"We have your photographs all over the house back home. Daddy said you'd be coming for me today," she lilted in a vaguely British accent. "Are we going to get him now?"

Veronica's face dropped, but she quickly recovered. "Uh, not yet honey. First, I'm bringing you some where safe, and then I'm going to come right back for your daddy. He wanted it that way," she said.

Lilly began to panic. "We can't leave daddy here, Auntie Vee. These men are horrible."

Veronica shushed her charge and brought her close. "I'm sure your daddy told you how I helped you both get out of a scary place before, right?"

She nodded. "When I was a baby?"

She nodded. "That's right. Well, I promise I will do it again. You're just going to have to trust me. Your father wanted me to take you out of here first, okay? But we have to leave right now. Can you trust me Lilly?" she asked nervously, hoping the little girl would see the determination in her eyes and follow her lead.

"You promise you'll come back?" Lilly asked for confirmation.

Veronica crossed her heart with her fingers. "I promise."

"Okay," Lilly nodded and put on a brave face before grasping her hand.

* * *

Logan, Dick, Mac and Gory sat at a table in the corner of The Red Room Club, with Weevil standing guard a few feet away, scratching uncomfortably at his shiny, white sateen pants.

"Psst!" Logan called to the PI. "You look like you have body lice, vato. You might want to take a break from clawing at yourself like a meth addict."

Weevil grumbled something to himself and shifted his weight.

Gory motioned toward the bar and Vera, the sullen-faced waitress who works the day shift, approached the table. "Dobroho ranku, pan Sorokin . Tse pryyemno bachyty vas povernutysya tak skoro."

"Dobroho ranku, Vera, English please, I'm entertaining guests," he said, waving a hand toward the others.

"Good morning. What may I get for you to drink?" she asked in unenthusiastic monotone.

Before anyone could answer, Gory spoke up. "We'll have the usual, and keep another bottle on ice, because I have a feeling we'll be needing it soon," he informed her.

"You will all be eating?" she questioned in a tone that suggested an interrogation.

"Yes, the Continental for all of us," he ordered.

"Very good," she said as if she thought the opposite, and walked off.

"Gotta love that friendly Slavic service," Mac observed, giving the waitress the side-eye.

"It's a Russian thing," Dick told her. "They're kind of bitchy, but they're totally hot so nobody ever complains."

"That, and because they're bat shit crazy," Logan added. "One chick tried to shank me once for kicking her out of bed moments after she finished giving me a blow job. To be fair, it wasn't really bed I kicked her out of since she was on the floor."

"What a gentleman." Mac scrunched up her face. "Do you kiss your girlfriend with that mouth?"

Logan grinned. "Veronica likes my dirty mouth."

"There's a surprise..." Gory mumbled under his breath.

Mac jumped in to prevent a throw-down. "So...when's Alexei getting here?" she asked with marked anticipation.

"He's already here." Gory kicked back and adjusted his gradated sunglasses. "2 o'clock from my angle," he said.

Mac turned slightly to look and locked eyes with the older man who was staring back intently. She quickly turned back around and did a silent scream. "Oh. My. God. It's him."

Dick rolled his eyes. "If you go all fangirl in here, I won't hesitate to put you down like a rabid dog. I am packing."

"Yeah Dick, you've mentioned," she snapped.

"What do we do next?" Logan asked Gory, absolutely hating the fact that he had to look to him for guidance.

Vera walked back over carrying a silver tray with two bottles of vodka on ice and several shot glasses.

"You remember what the sheriff said?" Gory grabbed one of the bottles off of the tray and poured four shots out. "We drink."

" Za zdorovie," Mac said, clinking her glass against Gory's. He nodded before throwing back his shot with her, then refilled their glasses.

The moment Mac's fingers touched the glass again, Dick coughed under his breath. She glared at him. "Problem?"

He shrugged. "You might want to slow down there, MacGuyver, you're kind of a lightweight."

"Everyone is a lightweight compared to you. You've lost all perspective. Plus, Keith said we should get loud and tanked. I'm just following orders," she explained before slowly drinking the entire second shot in front of Dick's face to show him up.

Dick's eyes went to half-mast and he smirked. "Game on, MacBeth. Game. On." He drank his first shot, poured another one and then downed it. "Now, we're even."

"Kids, do I need to take away the bottle or are you two going to behave?" Logan asked with annoyance. "In case you were unaware, we're in the middle of something here. You need to stay sober enough to take mental notes," he reminded them. "So, play nice."

"She started it," Dick mumbled.

Logan stood up from his chair, cleared his throat loudly and raised a glass. "I'd like to make a toast – to old friends and new endeavors. May both continue to thrive."

"Here! Here!" Dick shouted out before clinking his refilled glass against Logan's and Gory's.

A husky man in his mid-50's with a dark beard stood up from Alexei's table and began to cross the room.

"Showtime, people," Logan said quietly.

All of his nerve endings felt rubbed raw from lack of sleep and constant worry, but this was the moment he'd been waiting for. If he played this right, he might finally get some answers about Veronica. He needed to know what happened to her, good or bad, though if the news turned out to be truly bad, Keith may as well send Leo over with the handcuffs right now, because there was no way Petrenko would live long enough to finish his breakfast.

"Gorya Sorokin. We have not seen your face in here very much lately," the man said in accented English while staring directly at Gory as if the others ceased to exist. He smoothed a fat, swarthy hand down the front of his outdated tie that he secured in his tie clip, before letting his hand settle onto his belt where he doubtlessly kept his concealed weapon.

Gory reclined casually against the crimson cushions of the booth he was in and shrugged his indifference. "That tends to happen when you're asked to leave a place," he said. "Anyway, I was here a few days ago."

"We are aware, but this is most unusual, Gorya. When Mr. Petrenko say to a person to leave, we don't see him again," he warned.

Gory leaned forward and clenched his jaw. "Listen Boris, you can tell Petrenko that I'm not here for the reason he thinks. I'm here on business."

"There are not other places to have business meeting?" he asked before glancing over at his boss, who nodded his instructions. "Out of respect for your uncle, we let you stay here today, but no more, Gorya."

He nods. "I can live with that, I guess," he responded with a touch of melancholy.

Logan wondered what the hell Gory did to piss this guy off and why he neglected to mention it to any of them. Did he not think that this information was relevant?

Boris leaned closer to the table, prompting his too-short tie to fumble out of it's clip once more. "He would be honored if you agree to dine with him," he announced.

"You just told me he wants me gone. What the fuck is he playing at?" Gory asked angrily.

Logan shot him a look. This was exactly what they wanted to happen, they wanted access to Petrenko. What the hell was Gory's problem and why was he attempting to sabotage this? "You might want to reconsider the invite," he said in a way that let Gory know exactly what he planned to do to him if he didn't.

Boris's baritone laugh rolled out in thick waves. "The invitation is not for you, Gorya," he informed him through his laughter. "He would like to dine with her," he said, gesturing to Mac.

Mac froze in place. "I'm sorry, what?"

The stocky man knelt down as much as he could manage to face her. "Mr. Petrenko would be honored if you join him, Ms. MacKenzie."

Her mouth fell open and she turned to him. "How do you know my name?"

* * *

**A/N – How was it? Are you getting into it? Let me know with a review!**

**PS- lots of LoVe to those who have added this story to their 'alerts' and 'favorites'. I can't believe there are already 60 people following it. The pressure is on to make it good... **


	15. Chapter 15

**This is a short chapter, but mainly it's because I didn't have a ton of time to write today, and I wanted to get it out to you before the weekend. To get you to forgive me for the length, I've dropped a bombshell in the middle of this chapter, so enjoy it :)**

**PS - forgive any typos, I'm running on zero sleep. If you see anything glaring, please feel free to PM me and I'll edit.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 15**

Dick's hand slipped down to cradle Mac's lower back and she sat up straighter to lessen the contact. "The lady asked you a question, Mr...?"

"Baratashvili," Boris said.

Dick looked like he was about to give himself a stroke, as he was undoubtedly trying to work out the exact pronunciation and spelling of the stranger's name.

"Stop before you break something," Mac whispered quickly under her breath.

"Mr. Petrenko make it point to know competition," Boris said. "Ms. MacKenzie is top programmer with Kane Software."

Mac shook her head. "I'm not the top. Really, I'm just a worker bee."

"You are modest girl, but Mr. Petrenko is aware of your capabilities. He has been watching your career for several years now," he said.

Her nose crinkled. "Huh. I'm not really sure whether I should be flattered or disturbed by that."

"You will come?" Boris asked with an outstretched hand. "Mr. Petrenko always make it worth your time."

Dick leaned his elbows onto the table. "No way man. She's not going over there by herself."

Mac turned to her self-appointed watchdog and smiled weakly. "Can my friends come too?" Mac asked Boris, without breaking eye-contact with Dick. "I wouldn't want to be rude to them."

Boris glanced across the room again and had another silent conversation with his boss, then turned to address Mac. "He will come. The boyfriend," he said, pointing his thumb at Dick, who rose to the challenge before she could argue.

"We'll go," he said, earning a crazed look from Mac. "It would be rude not to at least say hello, snugglebunny."

Mac looked horrified and was rendered speechless by his brazenness.

"You agree?" Boris asked, as he politely extended a hand to help her up.

"Come on, Mac, an opportunity like this doesn't come around that often, you know," Dick said.

She nodded. "Okay."

Boris helped her up and led the way toward Alexei's table.

Lagging slightly behind, Mac poked Dick sharply in the ribs with her index finger. "What the fuck was that?"

"We came here to find your friend, right? Mr. Mars said we should be pumping this dude for info," he said.

"Do I really have to pretend to be your girlfriend to do that?" she asked.

"I can't help what people assume. I'm a hot piece of ass. Mr. Barrarratashbabaganooshvilli probably just figured you wanted to climb up on this," Dick said, running a hand down his chest to his stomach.

Her eyes followed his hand on it's slow journey downtown and she bit her lip.

"Seriously Knick-Knack-Patty-Mac, if he thinks I'm you're guy he probably won't try to sleaze on you," he said.

She nodded through her apprehension. "Yeah, okay, but if you ever call me snugglebunny again, I'm gonna have to kill you," she said with a contrived fury that was entirely unconvincing.

Dick smiled like he had a secret. "Really? 'Cause now that you told me you hate it, I'm totally gonna do it all the time."

* * *

Veronica led Lilly silently up the stairs by her hand. She gestured with her index and middle finger to her own eyes and then to Lilly's, instructing the girl to watch her for further instructions.

Lilly nodded and followed suit.

Veronica pulled opened the trap door that led to the restaurant and dragged her through it. She looked around the room to get her bearings, and realized they were standing just outside of the kitchen. She pulled Lilly through the swinging doors and skirted both of them behind a heavily loaded storage rack for cover.

She mentally scrambled to form a plan. When she conceived her jailbreak, she didn't exactly anticipate having her own personal 'Amber Alert' tagging along. For a small child tough, Lilly was unnervingly calm. It probably had to do with her only knowing life on the run, but she was one cool customer and her emotional discipline was astounding, which Veronica couldn't help but admire. Lilly may look a lot like her aunt, but inside, that little one was all daddy.

Veronica squeezed the five tiny fingers that rested in her hand. "Whatever happens," she whispered in her ear, "If something happens to me, I want you to run as fast as you can until your legs get tired and then call this number," she said as she rapidly etched a phone number into the inside of Lilly's forearm with the edge of the underwire. "I'm sorry if this hurts, but I don't have a pen."

"Who is this?" Lilly mouthed gesturing to her arm.

"He can help us. You can tell him who you really are and he'll know what to do," she said quietly.

"How do you know you can trust him?" she asked.

Veronica smiled to herself. Duncan had obviously trained his little girl very well to be paranoid. That, coupled with the cautious and even nature she certainly inherited from her mother, made Lilly the perfect partner in crime. She might just have to hire this one when their ordeal is over.

"He's my brother, Wallace, also known as 'Papa Bear', and he knows all my secrets. He already knows all of yours too," she explained, looking around for a more secure hiding spot for the girl. "Just tell him 'supafly' sent you, and he'll take very good care of you."

Veronica surveyed the room. She could see the exit, but it was clear on the other side of the kitchen and there were a lot of people coming and going too frequently for them to make it there cleanly without getting caught. Then there was the matter of the cameras she noticed trained on the outer doors when she first arrived there four very long days ago.

They'd need a quick escape, which meant she'd need a car outside waiting for them to run into it. They wouldn't have a second to spare if they were seen. She decided she would have to call ahead, but she'd need to find a phone first, and she couldn't do that with a kindergartner in tow.

Next to the sink, Veronica noticed a small square door and her eyes lit up. "Are you afraid of small spaces?" she asked Lilly.

The girl shook her head. "I used to hide in the air vents when I was smaller," she said.

Air vents. Maybe she was more like Lilly than she thought.

"That small door leads to a dumbwaiter. Do you know what that is?" Veronica asked.

Lilly nodded. "We used to have one of those in our house in Singapore."

"I want you to hide inside of that. I don't think they use it anymore, since the restaurant is on the same floor as the kitchen, so nobody should bother you. If I'm not back in 30 minutes for you, I want you to wait for Wallace. If for some reason I'm not able to call him, I want you to sneak out of that door after an hour," she instructed, pointing to the back door. "And then run like the wind."

Veronica took her watch off and secured it on Lilly's wrist. "You can tell time, right?"

Lilly held her arm aloft and looked at the digital display hanging loosely from her wrist. "I'm scared, Auntie Vee," she said softly, her voice devoid of panic.

Veronica held Lilly in her arms and kissed the top of her head several times, then held the little girl's angelic face in her hands. "I promise to do everything in my power to get us through this, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you, baby."

"I know. Daddy said so." She smiled and kissed Veronica on the cheek.

She leaned in and kissed the top of Lilly's head one more time, breathing in the powdery sweet scent that only the young possess. "You're going to run on the count of three, okay?"

* * *

Katya entered the dining room and was immediately stopped by Vera, who had a strange look on her face and whispered something in her ear that Katya obviously found shocking.

Logan noticed her immediately, of course. With a penchant for stunning blondes, it was inevitable that he'd be the first to pick up on her presence. How could he not?

Vera pointed directly to Logan's table and whispered something else to Katya that brought on a pained expression, then disappeared from sight for a moment.

Logan wondered who she was and what she was doing here. He hadn't seen her enter the place, and she wasn't dining or waiting tables. It was almost as if she had appeared out of the ether.

Katya reappeared a few minutes later with red-rimmed eyes. It was obvious she had been crying over something, but it would be impossible to guess from across a crowded restaurant. She gazed at his table once more and placed one delicate hand over her chest, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The Slavic beauty smoothed down her pretty yellow dress, plastered on a smile, and walked toward Petrenko's table. She hugged and exchanged an animated greeting with the Russian mogul, and he pulled her into his lap for a snuggle. She seemed carefree, but Logan knew what false joy looked like better than anybody, and her face in particular, was a billboard for consternation.

Katya alighted the middle-aged man's lap and stood dutifully next to him. She leaned over and shook hands with both Mac and Dick, though her eyes continued to drift toward his table every chance she got.

"Why is Svetlana looking at us like that?" Logan asked Gory, who was also watching the woman intently.

"Her name is Katya," Gory told him without shifting his eyes from her.

Gory knows this woman? This was an interesting piece of information. Logan seethed as he wondered what else his nemesis might be concealing. He figured it was time to break out the shovel and dig.

"She's hot. Who is she?" Logan asked nonchalantly.

"Just a girl I used to know." Gory shrugged and continued to watch her unabashedly.

"She seems kind of pissed off, and she keeps looking over here," he said. "Does she hate you or something?"

Gory tilted his head from side to side in consideration. "Probably."

"What? Did you bang her and then run out on her or something?" Logan questioned. "She looks like she was crying before. What did you do to her, man? Oh wait, don't tell me, you secretly filmed her taking a shower and put it on the internet."

Gory lowered his chin to his chest and squeezed his eyes shut. "Are you familiar with the story of 'Romeo and Juliet'?"

"Uh, yeah. In case you missed it, my dad did a really classy film adaptation of it in 1984. 'Ramón and Julia', starring a young Aaron Echolls as Latino heartthrob Ramón, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who falls in love with a golden-haired, Connecticut WASP princess, whom his mother works as a housekeeper for. Oh, and to answer what's sure to be your next question: yes, he was wearing subtle brown-face makeup, but the 80's were a different time. Besides, the critics anointed his performance 'heart-wrenching' and 'a revelation!', so he obviously transcended race and time," he said, before turning to look up at Weevil with a wagging finger. "I think we all know what's rocketing to the top of your Netflix cue."

Weevil bit his lip and fought valiantly to keep a straight face. "Shut up, man. I'm supposed to be a thug here."

"Pretty sure you can pull off thug in your sleep, cholo," Logan said grinning.

Gory rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and tried to look away from Katya, but Logan could tell that he was having trouble keeping his eyes from drifting back over to her. That's when he recognized it.

In Gory's face, Logan read the kind of pain that he wore like a second skin for five years. This bastard was in love with the girl, and despite every fiber in his body vibrating with hatred for the man, he couldn't help but feel a teeny bit of empathy for him.

"You came here for her, didn't you?" Logan gently asked.

A look of panic shot across Gory's features, which he quickly hid from sight. When he walked into the club wearing those dickwad sunglasses, Logan naturally assumed is was just an extension of the carefully cultivated persona that he had been meticulously honed throughout college. Now, he was certain that Gory donned them as a sort of armor. He came here prepared. He knew she would be here.

"I see I'm not the only one who has a thing for unreachable, hot blondes," Logan said.

Gory looked at him like he'd just stepped in shit. "Oh, is this the part where you invite me to crack open a few cold ones, and I spill my guts about the 'one who got away' while you share your sage wisdom with me? If so, my RSVP is no fucking way."

Logan smiled. "I was just going to say she's lucky she dodged a bullet."

Gory leaned in threateningly, blue eyes burning like the base of a blowtorch. "You're the one who's lucky to have dodged a bullet, Echolls. Maybe you won't be so lucky next time?"

The look on his face was as dangerous as the hunting knife tucked in the back of his boot. If there was one thing Logan was good at, it was reading people. It's why he became a writer, and the reason he was the last person who was surprised to find out that Aaron had killed Lilly. He could tell when somebody was talking smack and when they meant it. Gory was deadly serious.

"There was no impostor, was there? It was you who hired Veronica to come out the night I was shot at." Logan said through a tight jaw.

Gory smirked. "Fucking a PI doesn't exactly make you one. Maybe you should leave all of the hard thinking to your girlfriend?"

"I'd say the same to you, but Svetlana doesn't look like she feels like taking on anything of yours that's hard," he said, smiling placidly back.

"Her name is Katya."

"I'll have to remember that when I introduce her to Dick. He _loves_ Russian chicks, and for some reason they really seem to love them some Dick. But then again, it seems like she has more of a thing for men old enough to be her father," he said, gesturing to Petrenko.

Gory shook his head. "He _is_ her father, you fucking moron."

Logan brought a hand to his forehead as he absorbed the bombshell. "You're in love with Katya Petrenko?" he asked, shooting Weevil a concerned look.

"No. At least, not if I like breathing air and not eating through a tube," Gory said bitterly as he poured himself another shot.

* * *

Veronica hid amongst the folds of the thick, red curtain that separated the dining room from the back of house. She searched the floor of the restaurant for a purse or a gaping pocket she could steal a phone from.

As she peered through the velvet drape, she heard a distinct voice coming from the table nearest to her. A voice she'd know just about anywhere.

"What exactly are you asking her to do for you?" Dick bellowed in his characteristic loud tenor. "She's totally hot right now," he said, before realizing how that came out. "I mean, she's hot in-demand. Everybody's trying to get a piece of Cindy."

"Stop..." Mac whispered, looking positively mortified with her hand held tightly over her mouth like she was chocking back vomit.

Dick ignored her and prattled on about the programmer's positive attributes.

Veronica's eyes nearly fell out of her head. What the hell was Dick doing at The Red Room Club...with Mac? Whatever the surely demented reason was, she needed to get her attention immediately. She'd deal with the WTF later.

She reached into her bra and pulled out the zipper she'd dislodged from her jean skirt, then carefully weighed her options. This could go one of two ways: she could land the zipper perfectly onto Mac without anybody noticing, thus getting her attention and the help she needed...or, she could get herself, along with hers and Logan's best friends, killed. But hey, no pressure, right?

Veronica closed her eyes and brought the zipper to her lips, kissing it once for good luck, aimed, then chucked the strip of metal toward her best shot at salvation.

The zipper made a bulls-eye landing directly on top of Mac's head, with nobody noticing but Katya, who looked around for a moment before rejoining the conversation.

Mac winced as it landed and her hand went into her hair to examine the interloper. She held the zipper in her lap, out of eye-shot, and her forehead wrinkled in confusion. She turned around and looked across the room.

Veronica held her breath, crossing every part of her body possible for luck, with the exception of her eyes, which she laser focused on her friend, willing her to notice her.

Mac turned her head toward the curtain and her breath caught.

"Sorry to interrupt, but would you please excuse me? I need to use the ladies room," she said, looking discombobulated as she began to stand.

"Now?" Dick hissed, obviously not wanting to be left alone with the Russians.

"Yes, now," she said firmly, then grabbed her purse quickly and ran off.

* * *

As Mac came through the curtain, Veronica grabbed her, pulling her behind a bookshelf.

Veronica grabbed Mac's hand in both of hers and Mac placed her other one on top and squeezed tightly. Though neither woman could safely move or speak, their eyes said it all.

Fat tears escaped Mac's aquamarine pools and rolled down her cheek.

Veronica grabbed Mac's iPhone out of her purse, turned the sound off and started typing a note using the notes app. "_Call Wallace ASAP and tell him to drive next to back entrance with motor running._"

Mac grabbed her phone and began typing. "_I can drive you._"

Veronica leaned over and wrote "_How will you get away without drawing suspicion?_"

Mac frowned and began to respond. "_Your dad is right outside with Leo._"

Veronica shook her head and typed. "_I can't go with dad. I'm not alone._"

"_Duncan_?" Mac asked onscreen.

Veronica shook her head again. "_DK daughter Lilly. She's hiding in the dumbwaiter. No cops. Duncan will loose her. Nobody will look for her at Wallace's._"

Mac's eyes grew wide and she texted. "_I'll text Wallace and then come back to tell you his ETA. Can you stay hidden?_"

Veronica nodded and mouthed "Please hurry."

Mac squeezed her friend's hands again and smiled before typing out and sending the text to Wallace. As she was about to leave, she halted and frantically typed a short note and handed the phone to Veronica one last time.

As Veronica looked down at the phone, she could feel her heartbeat start to race.

"_Logan is here._"

* * *

Petrenko stood up as Mac returned and Dick followed suit. "I trust you were able to find the facilities okay?"

Mac smiled. "Yes, thank you."

"Ms. MacKenzie, you're as lovely as you are talented, but so far, you've been a woman of few words," he said.

"Well, I'm not sure there's much to say. I mean, of course, your offer is tempting, who wouldn't be temped? But, I mean, I'm locked into an NDA as well as a non-compete, and the contract says I can't work on software that directly competes with our own for three years," she explained.

"Contracts can be broken," Petrenko said dismissively with a wave of the hand.

Mac smiled uneasily. "I'm not sure Mr. Kane would see it that way, sir."

He leaned in and took one of her hands. "I can be very persuasive when I want to be." hH smiled and planted a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist, prompting a rough intake of air that drew Dick's attention.

Dick frowned. "That's all nice to talk about, but she's the one who could be bankrupted or jailed if Kane is feeling unreasonable."

Petrenko barely spared Dick a glance. "There are off-shore accounts that can't be reached through lawsuits. You would never be bankrupted, I would see to that."

Mac's eyes glazed over as she began to fall under the dashing foreigner's spell. Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her lap, fast breaking her out of her trance. Wallace had written back, and she couldn't figure out a way to check her phone covertly without being rude.

With one hand and all of her attention being held by a charming but dangerous oligarch, she wasn't sure how she would be able to extricate herself from this embrace without drawing suspicion.

"Have dinner with me tonight, Ms. MacKenzie," Petrenko purred in a delicate accent. "It doesn't have to be business. I'd like to get to know you better. I make it a point to get to know all of my potential top employees intimately before making a commitment to them," he said as he leaned over to shorten the distance between them. "You can never be to careful in love and war."

Mac tittered and batted her lashes at him as she felt the phone rumble in her lap once more.

* * *

**A/N - Again-sorry for the length. Hope you had fun with what you did get. LoVe will be reunited very soon and your patience will be appreciated with the gift of smut. Please leave a review and let me know how you liked this chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

**CRAZY amounts of reviews are happening for each chapter, and they are so helpful. Some of your questions really help me realize that I've forgotten to address something, or maybe could have dealt with it earlier or in a different way. To quote Andy from 'Parks n' Rec': You guys are awesomesauce!**

**Stay tuned for some smutty goodness toward the end of the chapter. You've been asking for it, so brace yourself for some LoVemaking. This chapter is rated M for Mmmmm.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 16**

Reviews for 'The Hunter's Daughter' by Poseidon's Pen

_Medusa: This chapter was really interesting and made me think of an alternate retelling of Rapunzel that I once stumbled upon. Like the original, Rapunzel is captured from her home and placed into a tall tower prison where she cannot escape. Instead of a wicked witch, in this version there is an evil wizard who threatens to kill her if she doesn't help him capture the prince and his sister, whom Rapunzel used to play with as a child. The evil wizard wants to hold them for random, believing that the king will pay handsomely for their safe return. Rapunzel is sad that she is unable to warn her friends in advance and devastated that she had any part in her friends' capture. Because of this, she risks her life and tricks the wizard, allowing her to escape and plot the rescue of her old friends. The princess is the main priority, of course, since is the eldest and heir to the throne. There were two endings attached. In one, Rapunzel is able to save the princess but sadly not the prince, though she spends the rest of her life trying to free him. In the happier ending, Rapunzel is able to get them both out safely. Either way, the princess is always freed in the end and lives a long and happy life ruling over her kingdom. I'm sorry if that wasn't of much help, but I know the ending to your story is going to turn out every bit as satisfying as this one was. Good luck. I'll be thinking of you._

* * *

Veronica lifted her wrist to check the time, but soon remembered she had given her watch to little Lilly so she could track the minuted before her escape. It had been 15 minutes since she left her in the dumbwaiter and Veronica was started to get tense. Where the hell was Mac?

* * *

From across the room, Logan watched Mac intently. Petrenko was grasping her hands tightly as if they were on a third date. The look on Dick's face as he watched Petrenko 'laying it on' thick was one he'd never seen before. His friend looked pissed. Uneasy and nervous too, must mostly pissed. He looked too preoccupied with Mac to be asking questions that might help Veronica.

Logan knew he shouldn't have allowed Dick to accompany her over there instead of him, though with Gory seething in the chair next to him like Dirty Harry, he may actually be of more use on this end of the club.

He glanced at Gory and frowned. Gone was the self-satisfied smirk that seemed to live on his face. In its place was a vacant stare, devoid of any emotion but loss. He was just an empty shell suit, with a pair of designer sunglasses propped on top.

This couldn't be good. He never trusted Gory, of course, but when he originally offered to help, Logan figured whatever else the guy had cooking was business-related and wouldn't interfere. Never in a million years did he think this asshole was capable of loving a woman to the point of personal devastation.

He knew from his own experience that a man in love was erratic and had the potential to do desperate and ill-advised things, and he didn't plan on being around when (it wasn't an if_) _said things went down, nor was he about to let Gory take Veronica down with him.

"You stare at her any harder and you'll turn her to stone," Logan said.

Without turning, Gory held his hand up to silence him. "Mind your own fucking business."

Logan's patience with Gory's antics had officially bottomed out, and he was about to show the asshole exactly how much. "I'm gonna take a walk," he said and headed directly over to Alexei's table, where he was intercepted by Boris.

Gory sat up straight, he had finally been thrown for a loop. Logan imagined Gory seething behind him and smiled.

"It is private meeting, sir, I'm sorry," Boris said as he placed a hand on Logan's chest.

"I'm not an employee of Kane Software. In fact, I'm not even a fan of Kane the man. I'm just a guy with a shitload of cash looking for somewhere to stick it," he said, giving Boris a face full of apathy like he'd done to a thousand club bouncers in the greater Los Angeles area. Treat 'em like dirt and they'll wave you right in.

Boris looked him over, no doubt taking account of his Prada loafers and Tag Heuer watch and ushered him past.

"Mr. Petrenko, Mac, Dick." He nodded to all three, then turned his attention to Alexei and Katya. "I don't believe we've met yet," he said, leaning over Mac's shoulder and stretching his hand toward the woman.

Katya looked at him skeptically, dropped the charm on her necklace, which she was nervously fingering, and took his hand.

Logan lifted her hand to his face. "Logan Echolls," he said, pressing it to his lips. He could feel Gory's laser like eyes trying to incinerate the back of his head and felt a rush of satisfaction.

Her eyes widened with recognition. "You're Logan..."

"Echolls," he repeated with a smirk. "Don't tell me you're a fan of my father's?" he asked, his expression dropping ever so slightly. "Actually, I'm serious. Don't."

"No. I think we have mutual friend," she said quietly with a knowing expression that begged him to understand.

Logan looked behind his back at Gory and turned back to face her. "Not sure I would classify him as a friend, unless of course, it's normal to pay people to beat the crap out of your buddies."

Alexei laughed. "I like you. You can stay."

Logan was about to extend his hand to the oligarch, when it became painfully clear he would not be relinquishing hold of Mac's hand, so he greeting him instead with a nod. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Petrenko, your reputation precedes you. Only good things, of course, mostly from our girl here," he said as he placed a protective hand on Mac's shoulder.

"I've heard quite a bit about you, Mr. Echolls, though I must admit, most of it wasn't very good," Alexei said with another laugh.

"Well, hearts and flowers don't really sell magazines," Logan said with a shrug.

"Nor do they sell stock. Nice is fine for parties, but never the boardroom," he said. "I have a feeling you and I will get along just fine."

The phone on Mac's lap buzzed once more, catching Logan's attention. She quickly made eye contact with him and then her eyes fell to the phone and back up to his face again. He got the drift.

Logan slid his hand into his friend's lap and furtively retrieved the phone, then placed it in his pocket. "Actually, I was just headed toward the rest room, but I wanted to pay my respects first," he said, subtly bowing his head toward Alexei and Katya.

"When you come back, I will buy you a drink and we talk a little business." Alexei said.

"I'd like that." Logan nodded and left the table, stopping only to blow Gory a kiss.

* * *

Logan whipped the phone out of his pocket the moment he crossed the curtain, and scrolled through the recent texts until he came upon the last few from Wallace.

The earliest read "_B there in 20_," followed by "_Covered plates in Saturn and will bring 2 U,_" and finally "_10 blocks away. Tell V to be ready,_" sent only two minutes earlier. Logan touched the phone to his head and felt his pulse start to race.

Tell V to be ready for what? He assumed V was Veronica, but if she's exchanging texts through Mac's phone, then why hasn't she contacted him and where the fuck is she? The only person who would know these answers was currently being chained down to a dining table by a pair of iron-fisted, Russian meat-hooks. He cursed Mac silently in his mind for being Petrenko's type.

Logan grabbed his head with both hands and turned in a circle, not sure what he was looking for, but absolutely sure he was looking for something. It was at that second that he felt a pull toward a darkened corner of the hallway where he promptly fell upon a pair of sea-colored eyes, just peeking out from behind a bookcase. His stomach did a joyful somersault and he reminded himself to remain calm, so as not to draw any attention. Judging the coast to be clear, he carefully slipped behind the bookcase and came face to face with the love of his life.

Before he could say a word, she pressed her fingers to his lips and he closed his eyes. Relief overwhelmed him, and if they hadn't been in the hornet's nest, he would have wept with gratitude at her feet.

Veronica leaned toward Logan and her lips touched the outer ridge of his ear. "Little Lilly is in the dumbwaiter. You have to get her out of the back door and bring her to Wallace. He'll be waiting with my car."

Logan shook his head and brought his mouth to her temple to planted a kiss before moving closer to her ear. "He texted Mac to say he'll be here any minute. I'm not leaving this place without you."

She tried to shake her head no, but he held her face steady with both hands and mouthed "Not without you."

Veronica stared him down for a moment and then relented with a slight nod.

He grabbed her hand and tipped his head out from behind the bookcase, making sure to wait for a tray-carrying Vera to walk safely out of view into the dining room. As soon as the coast was clear, they silently speed-walked into the kitchen and wrenched open the door to the dumbwaiter.

Logan looked to Veronica and his brow creased. "It's empty," he mouthed to her as he stuck his head in to check for any signs of Lilly.

Out of a nearby rolling tray a small foot slowly descended.

Veronica tapped Logan's chest and he rushed to help Lilly up. "Oh my God," he said unconsciously under his breath as he took in the view. It was like looking at a ghost.

"I know. Come on," Veronica whispered, as she headed toward the exit.

Lifting the girl on to his back, he carried her to the rear door of the kitchen.

As they carefully opened the back entrance to the kitchen, the emergency door alarm began to sound.

* * *

"Crap." Veronica ran into the back lot of the club behind Lilly and Logan. Waiting like a white knight was her old Saturn, driven by the only man she knew Logan would ever trust around her.

They flat out ran for the car and piled into the back seat. Veronica shoved Lilly to the floor and laid protectively on top of her.

"Go! Go! Go!" Veronica screamed as two thugs tumbled out of the exit after them brandishing guns.

Wallace slammed on the gas and tore out of the parking lot as shots were fired into the trunk of the car.

"Hot Damn!" Wallace hollered as he broke five different traffic laws at once. "You are SO lucky I was home, Supafly."

"I know. I get it. I owe you big time for this one," she said insistently.

He turned around and flashed her a smile before running a red light. "No girl, I'm just happy to have you home safe. This one is on the house."

"You're the best, boo," she cooed and lifted herself off of Lilly to hug the only part of Wallace she could grab at from her seat.

"Is this Papa Bear?" Lilly asked Veronica as her auntie strapped her into her seatbelt before fastening her own.

Wallace shot Veronica an unimpressed look through the rear view mirror.

"What? She asked!" Veronica said defensively.

"Just...no." He shook his head at her and then noticed his third passenger. "Echolls." He nodded, then looked back at his step-sister. "I'm assuming there's a story somewhere in this, though I'm not sure I've got the stomach to listen to it."

"I was there to rescue her, Papa Bear!" Logan said defensively.

"Check yourself," he snapped at Logan as he turned to drive down a service road. "Somebody better tell me what's going on here. The last I knew, you were kidnapped and wanted nothing to do with this dude...I'm entitled to have questions!"

"Sure, why don't we just pull over to a Starbucks and shoot the shit. If I remember correctly, you like a latte, light on the foam?" Veronica said with a glare.

Wallace raised one hand into the air. "Hey, no reason to get all uppity. I only work here."

Veronica's face softened. "I'm sorry, Wallace. You know I would explain everything to you if I had the time."

He stifled a laugh. "No, I don't know that!"

"Look, I really want to get you out of the equation right now, so you don't get dragged into this. I want you safe. That includes me not telling you things that could get you in trouble." Veronica rubbed a hand over her forehead and pointed to a turnoff coming up on the right. "Pull into the rail yard and we can let you out."

"Oh, I have to leave, but he gets to stay? Just wanna make sure we're clear on the rules," he asked.

"He's already involved, so..." Veronica looked over Lilly's head at Logan and gave him a tight smile. "Yeah. He stays."

Wallace sneered and rolled down the window a crack. "I'm suddenly feeling a little queasy." He turned the car into the abandoned rail yard and put the Saturn into park. "The things I have to do to spend time with my own sister," he grumbled, shaking his head in disappointment.

Veronica hopped out of the car and ran around to the driver's side. As soon as Wallace emerged, she enthusiastically threw herself into his arms, nearly knocking him into the car, and Logan wished for the first time in his life that he was Wallace.

"Woah, girl." He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "God, you're so stupid, it's like it's your job."

"I know." She climbed off of her best friend and left a big wet kiss on his cheek. "I'm not going to cheapen this by saying much, but thanks," she whispered and placed an index finger in the center of his skull. "Please don't tell my dad you saw her. Just say it was Logan and me. This is really important."

"Who is she?" he asked, leaning back to look through the front windshield into the car.

Veronica shook her head. "It's better if you don't know."

He nodded. "Why is it I can tell what you're gonna say before you say it now? Does that make me clairvoyant or you predictable?"

She rolled her eyes and threw her arms around Wallace one more time. "You're my guy, Papa Bear, and I promise that when all of this crap is over, I will let you pick any movie you want to make me sit through, I won't complain and I'll even pay for the ice cream."

"Even a mid-level sports film where a down on his luck ex-athlete is recruited to coach a ragtag team of underdogs who don't have a chance in hell of winning, but at the end manage to score the winning point against the returning champions with only three seconds left on the clock?" he asked, pouting.

Veronica sighed heavily and took the keys from his hand. "Is there any other kind?" she asked as she sat in the driver's seat and fastened her seatbelt.

"Come back in one piece," he said as he squeezed her upper arm before pointing to Logan. "If you let something happen to her, I'm coming after you next, rich boy."

Logan saluted Wallace as Veronica peeled the car out of the lot.

* * *

They drove around in a tense silence for the next 90 minutes, only taking back roads and driving the speed limit. They had a lot to say, but neither one of them wanted to talk like this, especially with little ears present.

"It felt good to catch up with Wallace," Logan said as he reached out and captured a small clump of his girlfriend's golden hair that fell behind her headrest.

"He doesn't hate you, he hates me right now. He is so _so_ mad at me," she said, followed by a long sigh.

"He'll get over it. We always do," Logan said and rubbed the lock of hair it between his fingers, almost like he was checking to make sure she was real.

"Thinking of going blond again?"

"Well, you did promise you'd stay with me no matter what," he said, reminding her.

"Yeah, but it wasn't carte blanche to test my love. Just remember honey, _you _still have to look at you." She smiled, still staring at him through the mirror.

"Keep your eye on the road. You have precious cargo in back," Logan said.

"Is she sleeping?" Veronica asked quietly, turning to check on Lilly, who had dozed off.

"Eyes on the road, bobcat!" Logan yelled, alerting her to an oncoming car that she swerved just in time to miss.

"Oops..." She grimaced at his reflection.

"God, you have no idea how badly I want to be alone with you right now," he said.

Veronica gave him a cheeky smile and winked. "Oh, I think I do."

"When this one goes to sleep for real, you had better gird your loins," Logan said, pointing at Lilly.

She laughed. "How do you know I'm not girding them right now?" she asked in a low, seductive voice.

"Pull over," he demanded flatly.

She laughed harder.

Logan frowned. "That wasn't a joke."

Veronica lifted her arm above her shoulder and grabbed Logan's waiting hand, which she pressed to her cheek. "I missed you. There were a few times I thought I might be going crazy in there, but I kept thinking about how I had to get back to you, so..."

He smiled and rubbed his thumb along the ridge of her cheekbone. He stared longingly at her through the mirror and she could feel all of the blood rush to pool in her belly. Maybe it was the adrenaline or her addiction to him, but she couldn't wait any longer to hold him, and immediately pulled the car over into an over-grown patch of trees off the side road.

As they rolled to a stop, Logan looked at her quizzically. "What's up?"

She hung her head in embarrassment for a moment, before opening her door and stepping outside.

Logan watched her with interest as she manually unlocked his door from the inside and clicked the handle.

Veronica opened the door and extended her hand, which he gladly took.

"You're not going to make me walk the plank are you?" he asked.

Her brow furrowed. "Is that some sort of sex euphemism I'm unfamiliar with?"

"If I say yes, will you allow me to demonstrate it right now?" he asked with a toothy grin.

Veronica pushed Logan up against the car, ran both hands into his hair and pressed her rigid body up against him, finally satisfying the craving for contact that she'd been feeling since the last time he touched her. They both sighed in each other's embrace and the air became heavier and more charged between them.

Logan dipped his head down and leaned his forehead against hers. "You have no idea how scared I was that I'd lost you again."

She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent deeply. "I was scared too."

He flipped her around, so her back was to the car and his mouth hovered over hers, barely brushing up against it. Her eyelids fluttered as she leaned in, her lips desperate to gain purchase.

"I realized after they'd taken you, that I would never be able to get over it if I couldn't have you," he whispered. "Believe me, I've tried, and for a while there I thought that maybe I had, but as soon as I saw you that night at The Neptune Grand, I knew it would be impossible." he said as he lightly trailed his finger back and forth along her collar bone.

"Kiss me," she said, tipping her face back to give him better access to her mouth. Her body felt raw and urgent and she wondered if she might actually pass out of he didn't kiss her soon.

"I don't understand how after so long, things could feel exactly the same, like no time has past at all," Logan murmured, still frustrating her by withholding his kiss.

Veronica rose onto her toes, but he continued to remain just out of her reach. "It's not the same," she said breathlessly. "It's different this time."

He smiled and gently smoothed a hand over her hair. "You are a little different, but in a good way."

She grabbed the sides of Logan's face and pulled him to her. "I love you, okay? I'm not running away from you this time Logan, I'm running with you. We are_ literally_ on the run together. "

His eyes sparked and he roughly pulled her to him, crashing his mouth into hers, bruising her lips with the weight of his ardor for her. He kissed her hard and long, stealing her breath as he probed her with his warm tongue.

She felt dizzy and euphoric at the same time, and clamored onto him for support, but it wasn't enough. She needed to be closer to him. She needed more.

Logan pulled her head back and left a wet trail down her neck into her cleavage, then made his way back up, sucking and nipping at her skin with his teeth until he reached her earlobe, which he greedily took into his mouth.

Veronica moaned softly and ran her hands over his muscular behind, pulling it sharply to her. She whimpered as one of his hands made it's way up her dress and touched her through the thin strip of cotton that covered her there.

"No, we can't...I haven't showered in days...I'm filthy," she said between pants.

"I love it when you talk dirty," he whispered into her neck before sinking his teeth into her collarbone.

Veronica gasped from the pain, but at least she could feel him. "But Logan..." she groaned as he nipped at her again, subtly marking her pale skin.

He cupped her face in his hands. "I'm fairly certain I'd lick sewage off of you if I had to right now, Veronica."

She giggled a bit and twisted a lock of his hair around her fingers. "You sweet-talker," she said with a sigh. "You know we can't do this here."

"Take your dress off," he ordered, completely ignoring her.

"Lilly could wake up at any moment! And we're not in the clear yet, I'm positive they're all out there looking for us still. Also, Logan, I'm starving..." she whined.

"I've got something you can put in your mouth," he said, waggling his eyebrows. "Come on. Just let me touch you," he asked, sliding one hand back under her skirt, while his other grazed her nipples through sapphire silk. His mouth descended once more onto her neck as he pulled her underwear aside to allow his fingers to enter her. "I'm dying to touch you."

Her eyes were cloudy with want and her head so foggy she could barely form words.

Logan pumped his fingers into her at a painfully deliberate rate, curling and releasing them like he was slowly playing the harp. Her breath hitched and she bucked her hips in an attempt to gain more friction.

"We're supposed to be running from the mob. This is so wrong, we're like out of control animals in heat," she rambled through her enjoyment.

"If you're trying to get me to stop, you're doing a lousy job," he said as he sped up his ministrations.

"Oh God!" she screamed and arched her back as he scored a direct hit on her G-spot.

"Tell me what you want me to do," he murmured into her chest as he withdrew his fingers and instead rubbed lazy circles on her aching core with his thumb.

She looked up at him, all heavy lids and heaving chest and rasped, "Fuck me."

Logan glanced into the back seat to make sure Lilly was still asleep, then cupped Veronica's behind and lifted her around to the other side of the nearest tree where they wouldn't be seen.

She reached for his pants and frantically unbuttoned them and dragged them down over his behind with his underwear in tow.

He leaned Veronica up against the tree, pulled her panties to the side and slipped inside of her with one motion.

"Shit," she hissed and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him as he began to move inside of her. "You feel so good. So good."

Logan groaned and slammed into her hard, not waiting for either of them to warm up. It was what she wanted, to feel him so far inside of her that he hit the back. After days of fearing that she'd never have this again, she wanted him to make her really feel it.

"God Ronnie, you're so fucking sexy," he said as he pounded away unrelentingly. She could feel the rough bark of the tree digging into her back and the low hanging branches tangling her hair. Her legs ached from holding them up around him, but still she felt amazing. Who could focus on anything else while being fucked within an inch of their lives by Logan Echolls?

Veronica felt the pressure build in her groin and her eyes began to roll back and white out. "I'm close," she cried, before immediately falling apart around him, quivering inside and out. After valiantly holding his excitement at bay, Logan allowed himself to finish with a long, satisfying groan.

Both gasping for air, Logan lowered Veronica to the ground and held her boneless, shuddering body in his arms. "I love you," he said softly into her ear along with a series of other sweet, post-coital affirmations. All she could do was helplessly drape herself over his shoulders and smile like an idiot.

Nobody made Veronica feel the way he did. Since their first kiss, she'd been on the knife's edge of pleasure all the time whenever she was around him, or even if thought about him for too long. If she could, she'd have him live inside of her.

"We should get back to the car," she managed to squeak out softly.

Logan looked down at her. "Can you walk?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You would love it if I said no."

"Wrong. I would tweet it," he said correcting her, as he lifted her threshold style and carried her to the car.

* * *

**A/N – Thanks for all of the follows and favorites! How did I do? Please review.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Here's the deal. Originally, I had intended to switch back and forth between Veronica and Logan's POV. That's why all of the Dick/Mac scenes were from Logan's POV in the past. Now, however, the story has taken a different turn, and I have no choice but to diverge from this plan, since there will be a bunch of scenes without L/V in them. Anyway—hope it doesn't throw you too much. Also, keep an eye out for a time overlap - last chapter you saw L/V escape with Lilly, and this chapter you will hear it happening outside but see what happened on the inside of the club at the same time. Hope it's not confusing.**

**FYI - For those who think Veronica was OOC in the last chapter—there is a good reason for that!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 17**

Duncan Kane leaned his ear against the door to his locked room and closed his eyes. He'd heard that if you blocked off one of your five senses, the remaining four would grow stronger. The last sound he could remember hearing was the soft shutting of the door of the room next to him. He was almost positive that his daughter was being held there, and the panic of not knowing what was happening to her or if she was okay was eating him alive.

He shifted his feet to get a different angle and felt something slide past his shoe. Kneeling down, he groped the floor and lifted up a pair of shiny, moon-shaped objects.

Duncan scratched the side of his head and wondered what the hell these things were and where they had come from. They certainly hadn't been there when he first came in.

It was then that he discovered another shiny object on the floor, this one a little more familiar to him. He pinched the edge and lifted the chain to his eye-level.

"Veronica," he whispered with a smile as he touched the delicate cluster of diamonds shaped like a star, a gift from his sister Lilly.

This had to be her way of telling him she had his Lilly. He took a deep breath and let it out before securing the jewelry in the zipped inside pocket of his jacket.

Duncan's eyes drifted back to the moon-shaped wires. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it looked a little like something he saw Veronica use once to pick a lock.

He rubbed his hand over the pocket containing Veronica's necklace and held it against his chest. It felt good to know she still had his back after so long. He smiled, knowing it wouldn't be too much longer now.

* * *

Alexei Petrenko looked deeply into Mac's eyes and she felt herself starting to flush everywhere. She had to hand it to the guy, he was a sexy beast at nearly twice her age as well as being a software visionary, when she wasn't sure she had it in herself to be even one of those things. God certainly gave with both hands to Alexei Petrenko.

"You haven't answered me yet about my dinner invitation," he said, his dark good looks hypnotizing her into a stupor.

Dick coughed loudly and glared at her. "She already has dinner plans tonight, Mr. Petrenko."

Alexei eyes widened. "I didn't realize you two were..."

"We're not"/"We are" Mac/Dick both answered at the same time and then turned to each other with exasperation.

"I usually don't make a habit of getting in the middle of a lover's quarrel," Alexei explained, shooting Mac a look that set her loins ablaze. "When you figure out what this is," he said, gesturing in a circle between the feuding friends, "You have my number. Until then, consider my offer business-related. Together, I believe we could have something very special."

The fire alarm sounded followed by the sound of four gunshots.

Dick lunged in front of Mac and pulled her to the ground under the table, then threw himself on top of her.

From below, they could see Boris's legs practically tripping over his own feet as he ran toward his boss.

Boris said something to to Alexei in Ukrainian, which caused an explosion of quiet rage that Mac found far more frightening than if he were yelling.

Frozen with panic, Mac remained on her back, eyes wide open, with Dick's entire body pressed up against her own, breathing the same air back and forth. She had never been this close to him before, and didn't expect him to smell so good or for his skin to be as soft was it was. She debated to herself as to whether the risk of getting shot was worth the distraction from the uncomfortable feelings she was having at the moment.

If the situation weren't so dire, she might be forced to examine why Dick chose to protect her like this, and why she found the weight and warmth of his body lying of top of her soothing, rather than smothering. She might also have to take a moment to decide whether the knot she felt tightening deep in her belly was from the danger of the gunfire or the danger or something that could wound her nearly as much.

There was more screaming in Ukrainian and then the sound of a police megaphone with Keith Mars' voice booming out of it, demanding that all weapons be dropped.

Mac looked into the pair of eyes that were only a few inches from her own and her breathing hitched. Dick's gaze became less protective and more predatory as his mouth instinctively inched closer to hers. He didn't have the same full lips as Cassidy, but they were just as beautiful in their own way. She tried to push all thoughts of Cassidy out of her mind as Dick closed the distance between them. His lips were about to graze hers and she closed her eyes to bravely receive her fate.

"Everything safe now, I think," Katya said, breaking the tension under the table as she crawled toward them, interrupting them before anything could start.

Mac's lids fluttered open and the delicious warmth that had enveloped her moments earlier was gone.

"You would've made a good football player in high school. The tackling and all..." she said as Dick helped her to her feet.

Dick screwed his face up. "You think I wanted to risk messing up my moneymaker?" he said, pointing to his face, which had now adopted some form of Zoolander expression.

She silently thanked the universe for that comment. It should help keep her head clear for another ten minutes at least. "Huh. And just when I was starting to think you were manly."

"That was your first...wait, what?" he asked her, but she had already left his side to examine the source of the commotion.

* * *

Leo had two Russian thugs cuffed and pressed up against the wall and was reading them their Miranda rights. Keith, who was taking notes in his tiny spiral, dropped the task immediately as soon as he saw Mac appear at the rear entrance.

"You're okay? Nobody got shot here?" he asked with concern, to which she nodded.

"Was Veronica shot?" Mac asked nervously.

Keith pressed his hand to his eyes and chuckled through his relief. "I knew I recognized her voice on the wire. It just cut out after that, though. Where is she?" he said, looking around.

"Your guess is as good as mine, sir," Mac said.

"How did she get her car over here anyway? Who brought it?" he asked, then shook his head as he realized the most obvious answer. "I need to worry about two of my children now?"

Mac shrugged apologetically.

"Where's Logan?" he asked.

Before Mac had a chance to open her mouth to respond, a voice called out from behind her. "I think with Ronja," Katya answered.

Keith approached Katya and pulled out his pad. "How do you know Ronnie," he asked.

"I introduced them. Katya's my girlfriend," Gory said as he sidled over to the blonde and wrapped an arm around her waist. She stiffened with the contact before checking for witnesses.

"Do any of you know where they drove off to?" Keith asked.

Everybody looked blankly at one another.

"Was she being held here?" he asked, then turned to Leo. "Track Logan's cell phone."

Dick approached Keith and leaned in. "You want to talk to beardy dude over there," he said, pointing to Alexei. "He owns the joint."

Keith frowned. "That's Petrenko? I expected older and less..."

"Hot?" Mac interjected, much to Dick's dismay.

"Okay kids. Can you hang around town for the next few days? I'm going to have a chat with General Zod over there, but I might have some followup questions for you," he said.

They all nodded and Dick dragged Mac away by the corner of her sleeve.

"Why are you stretching out my favorite shirt?" Mac asked him.

Dick looked at her pityingly. "Come on. That's can't be your favorite. You can't even see your cleavage in that."

Mac yanked her sleeve out of his grasp and looked nonplussed. "What are you doing, Dick?"

"I'm taking you home," he said.

She bit her lip and stared at the ground. "That's not what I mean."

Dick opened up the passenger side door and ushered Mac inside. "Come on. I still owe you that victory brew from when you kicked my ass at 'The 5th Dimension'."

She smiled and swung her legs inside. "Oh, so you're admitting I kicked your ass now?"

"That part is indisputable, Mac Attack. I'm just still not convinced you didn't program it." He smirked, obviously trying to get her goat.

Mac watched Dick as he strapped himself into his seat, then reached across to adjust the neck-strap of her seatbelt to the correct height for her.

"You're friends with Veronica because she's the only person shorter than you," he said.

Mac laughed out loud. "Yeah, you got me. That's basically all we have in common. We rarely talk of anything else."

Dick reversed out of his spot, then put the car into drive and rolled slowly to the stop sign.

Spontaneously, Mac leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, causing his foot to slip off the break for a moment, from the surprise.

His eyebrows bunched as he tried to tease out the meaning of her sudden affection. "What was that for?"

She cleared her throat and placed her hands daintily on her knees. "I just wanted to say...you know...thanks...for looking out for me in there.

A smile spread across Dick's lips and he nodded. "No problemo," he said and then stepped on the gas.

Mac opened the glove compartment between their seats and dug around. "Do you still keep extra sunglasses in here? Cassidy always - - " Before Mac was able to finish her sentence, she noticed a man hiding in the back seat of the car and let out a blood curdling scream.

* * *

Veronica and Logan walked into their hotel room at a secluded seaside inn a few hours South of Carmel on the Palisades coastline. They'd switched plates at a chop shop about an hour before, and had planned to drive until morning, but the adrenaline had worn off and exhaustion was setting in, so they needed to find a bed quickly.

Lilly was conked out again after a large dinner, and Logan carried her toward the bed in his arms.

"Get the door," he whispered to his girlfriend, who followed his instructions.

As they walked into the two room suite, Veronica gasped at the floor to ceiling window that faced the water. "It's so beautiful. Who knew that running from the mob could be so scenic?"

Logan gently laid the little girl on one of the beds and straightened his shirt. "If we had only known earlier...I'll be sure to keep it in mind for the honeymoon," he joked, before realizing what he had just said. "Veronica, I didn't mean..."

She waved a hand in the air like she was casting a spell. "Don't sweat it," she said as she gravitated toward the giant window and leaned her forehead and palms against it. "It feels like you're falling when you do this."

He observed Veronica warily and followed her to the view. She seemed to have taken that marriage slip well for her...maybe too well? He was so caught up in the whirlwind of their reunion, that he didn't stop to think about some of the personality changes he noticed.

"It makes me nervous when you do that," he said as he encircled her waist with his arms pulling her back against him.

Veronica flipped over in his grasp and snaked her arms around his neck. "Everything makes you nervous when I do it, Logan. You're worse than my dad."

"Can I help it that prefer you alive?" he asked.

"I feel pretty alive right now," she said breathlessly, her eyes sparkling like the sea at dusk outside their room. "Besides, it's not like you're tucked in at 8pm with a book every night" she pointed out.

"I would gladly get into bed at 8pm every night if you were in it," he said, planting a lingering kiss. "Anyway, it's not like my lifestyle isn't risky. How many guys can say they've voluntarily tangled with a 95 lb bobcat?"

Veronica put a finger to her lips and thought. "Six?"

Logan groaned. "Great, now I'm going to spend the rest of the night thinking about the other five."

She ran a hand through his hair and scratched at his scalp the way he always liked. "That's only going to take up about ten minutes of your time, hot stuff. The real challenge would be thinking about all of the girls that you've been with. I'm not even sure my profiler memory could keep track of all of those ladies."

Logan frowned at the latent hostility behind her barb. "I don't give a shit about any of those girls, Veronica, you know that," he said. "Are we okay here?"

Without warning, a shadow passed over her features and tears started forming in her eyes. Logan could feel his stomach drop down a foot.

This wasn't his Veronica.

"We're fine," she said tightly, forcing a smile. She ran a hand over her mouth and shook her head in self-admonishment, and then just as suddenly as the curtain dropped, it was raised back up again.

Over the course of the 12 years he'd known her, he'd only seen her cry a handful of times, yet over the last week, he'd practically lost count. He chalked it up to an adrenaline surge from taking down a hitman and the heightened emotional state they both lived in since their re-coupling, but this was something more.

She was drinking hard liquor nowadays, for one. And though it didn't seem strange in context, Veronica barely drank anything stronger than a Red Bull and he'd never seen her touch spirits. Watching her take down a fourth of tequila like she had the night of the attack was a strange sight, but at the time he just assumed it was a side effect of working the type of job she chose to pursue. It wasn't for the faint of heart, and while certainly nobody could accuse her of being that, she also wasn't as tough as she let on.

Then there was the public sex they had earlier in the woods. Though amazing, and not exactly out of character for Logan, it was way out of Veronica's comfort zone normally. They'd always had passion, but never the kind that caused her to forget herself and run her car off the road in a quest to have him immediately - not at the expense of her privacy. He was flattered at the time, but now it gave him cause for concern.

Last but not least, was the matter of her vanishing commitment issues. For a woman who couldn't muster the courage to say three simple words, some might find it surprising that she wanted to live with him so soon after reconciling – and it was her idea. Why that didn't cause him to drive her directly to a head doctor, he could only attribute to a nasty case of wish fulfillment.

Having Veronica breeze into town, telling him every little thing he'd ever dreamt of hearing from those shapely lips, was a heady brew. He wanted it to be true, and thought if he pressed the issue, she might change her mind and run again.

He couldn't look her in the eyes. He was too scared to have any of his suspicions confirmed. But how could he possibly continue this charade without knowing for sure whether she was in on the game?

"I need to ask you something," he said while still averting his eyes.

She promptly grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "Tell me?" she prompted in an authoritative tone, in a bid to appear calm and collected.

To an amateur, her performance would have appeared flawless, but to the son of two professional actors, her 'tells' were galling. Her voice may have been as honeyed and controlled as ever, but her staggered breathing and shaky hand gave her away like a day old donut.

Logan focused his eyes on hers and took a few practice breaths like he was about to jump off the high dive. "Did you...did something happen to you while you were in DC?"

Veronica flinched.

Only for a split second, but he caught it and then he knew.

* * *

Startled by Mac's scream, Dick banked right and pulled over to the shoulder of the road, just narrowly missing a guy on a scooter.

"What the hell, Mac?" He turned to her with concern.

Mac's chin began to wobble and she lifted her hand to point to the figure in the backseat.

Dick's eyes widened. "Fuck!", he shouted, then quickly drew his gun and trained it at the man's head. "Put your hands on your fucking head, man," he ordered in a strong voice.

The stowaway placed both of his hands on his head and then lifted his chin to look at them. "Sorry," Duncan said with a cringe.

"Dude!" Dick yelled in happy recognition of his friend.

Duncan felt terrible for frightening Mac, but he needed to make sure he was as far away as possible before they noticed him. He couldn't take the chance that they would be unwilling to aid and abet a criminal and kick him out of the car under fear of arrest.

"Asshole!" Mac grunted and punched Duncan hard in the arm. "Does Veronica know you're here with us?"

"No. I mean, she knew I was at that restaurant, but then she left with Lilly. At least, I hope she did," he said with a frown.

"She did," Mac said, assuring him. "They're probably long gone by now, though I have no idea where to. They took my phone, which makes it a little challenging for them to reach me."

Dick pulled the car back onto the road. "How'd you David Blaine your way outta there anyway?"

Duncan laughed. "Veronica slipped these metal things under the door of my room. I'm pretty sure they were the underwires from her bra."

"Those underwires probably did you a hell of a lot more good than they did Ronnie," Dick said. "I'll bet she never misses 'em."

Mac shook her head. "Pig."

Dick watched her through his peripheral vision. "I don't know what you're complaining about. Mac Attack is stacked!"

She buried her face into her lap and groaned. "Every time I start thinking you're maybe cool, you have to go and say something so...so...Dickish."

Dick gingerly placed a hand on her back, prompting her to sit up again. "Come on. Even Logan jokes around about Ronnie's bra size, they're elfin."

Duncan's face hardened. "Veronica's talking to Logan again?"

Dick licked his lips with glee. "Dude, Veronica's doing more than talking to Logan, she's- - "

"-on the run with him right now. Logan helped Lilly and Veronica escape," Mac said, covering for her friend.

Duncan could tell that Mac was holding back some vital info about his second-favorite blonde, but none of that mattered until he got his child back. "Logan is with them, huh? I guess that's good...I mean, you know, he can help protect Lilly."

Mac smiled warmly at him. "Logan's really good with kids. Especially little girls, they love him."

Duncan smirked. "Can't say that surprises me. He's always had a way with the ladies," he said with a slight acridity.

"Hey, why don't you try calling my phone?" she suggested. "Maybe they'll answer it? At the very least, I can use my iPad to track them," she said as she fished her iPad out of her bag and opened up the 'Find My Phone' app.

Mac grabbed a pen out of her bag and wrote her cell number on Duncan's wrist. "You should use a pay phone though, just in case the bad guys dip into my phone records."

"There's one in this shopping plaza," Dick said, before turning into it.

The car slowed to a stop and Duncan hopped out of the car. "I'll be back in five."

* * *

Mac glared at Dick. "Smooth move about Logan."

He shrugged innocently. "What about Logan?"

"Why would you tell him that Logan and Veronica are back together? What good can come of that?" she asked.

His forehead creased. "Why does it matter?"

"You know how touchy Duncan and Logan get about Veronica. Let her break it to him herself," Mac said.

Dick stared at her through the rear view mirror. "What are you going to give me for exercising my self-restraint?"

Mac met his eye. "Uh, how about the opportunity to finally be a decent human being?"

Dick snorted. "Pass. Sounds lame."

She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed. "Come on, Dick. Dig deep!"

He looked distracted for a moment before rallying. "What's the big deal about Duncan knowing anyway? He's gonna know at some point."

She turned to look in his eyes directly. "I just think...well isn't it obvious?"

He laughed. "Obviously not, or I would be sitting here trying to crack the Da Vinci code."

She leaned in closer and lowered the volume of her voice. "Veronica comes back to Neptune after five years and all of a sudden Duncan shows up after being gone forever? You don't think those two events are related?"

His brows knitted as he processed her thoughts. "I see your point, but it's not like he's not gonna find out. I mean, you didn't see the two of them at The Grand. They were practically eye-fucking each other any chance they got. It was disgusting."

Mac blushed. "I don't know, sounds kind of romantic to me."

Dick dipped his head to look her in the eyes and smirked. "I meant it was disgusting because it was the two of them. If we did it, it would be hot. Jeez, who knew you were such a girl?"

She wondered if she just hallucinated the last ten seconds, or whether Dick Casablancas actually just told her that it would be 'hot' if they 'eye-fucked'?

"_Richard_, I know this is probably hard for you to grasp, but there is this thing called 'love', and sometimes it can even last forever..." she explained in a condescending tone.

"You think I don't know what love is?" he asked, sounding more exasperated each time he spoke.

Mac blew a stream of air at a piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes. "You're telling me I'm wrong? I mean, I've known you since the start of high school and I've never seen you in a relationship that's lasted longer than a tank of gas."

"I dated Madison for a year," he said, reminding her.

The mention of Madison's name made Mac burn up inside. "Yeah, on and off. You're gonna tell me you loved Madison?"

He looked at her and held his ground for a moment, then deflated and crumbled. "Nah. Madison was a royal bitch."

"You can say that again," Mac mumbled under her breath.

Dick lit up. "What do you have against Madison, Mac? Are you jealous?"

God, if he only knew. Jealous? Sure. She was jealous that Madison slept in what should have been _her_ bed every night, and got to tease and laugh with _her_ little sister when they were kids. She was jealous that Madison grew up without the crippling financial woes she faced and that she got to travel everywhere descent in the world all before she turned 16. Jealous of Madison? Hell yeah. But she wasn't jealous of Madison because of Dick. Was she?

"No. Why would I be jealous of Madison? I like my body disease-free and the needle on my moral compass to face North," she said, her arms pointed ahead of her in demonstration. "I may not have had it easy like she did, and maybe I'm not as glamorous, but I'm pretty sure she'll be working for me one day, so I'm okay with the other crap."

Dick's mouth was agape, and his shock at the vitriol in Mac's tirade reflected off of him and back on to her, making her squirm under the scrutiny.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"I'm not gonna lie, Mac. Your Madison rant got me a little hard," he said proudly.

"Ugh!" She shoved him. "Why are you such a pig?"

He pointed at her. "Don't lie. I can tell you got yourself going a little bit there too, am I right?"

"No, you're not right!" she snapped, until she caught a glace of herself in the sun visor mirror. With her eyes ablaze with anger, cheeks flushed with vigor and bosoms heaving, she had to admit that he might not be completely...wrong.

They stared in a deadlock until Duncan opened the door.

"Come on, lovebirds, break it up. We're burning daylight here," he said while clapping his hands obnoxiously.

"Any luck?" Mac asked.

Duncan frowned and kneaded his hands. "They're not answering the phone. Should I be worried?"

Mac glanced at Dick, who met her with a smile, and then stared ahead at the miles of road stretched like taffy in front of them.

* * *

**A/N – Okay, this chapter was a massive challenge. Lots of stuff to juggle, I just hope it all made sense, especially with the time overlap. Your comments, as usual, are much appreciated and cherished :) **


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the delay! I know you're used to my lightening fast updates, but I took a couple of days to write a one-shot for my friend at the That 70's Show fandom. It's called "Resolutions," if you're interested in checking it out. **

**Just so you know, I'm headed to the UK on Tuesday for the holidays (my husband is English), so while I _promise_ there will be updates, I just don't know how frequent they will be while I'm gone.**

**Anyway – sit back and (hopefully) enjoy the ride! **

**Be forewarned: Angst ahead - not of the LoVe variety, just Veronica's stuff. LoVe is fine.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 18**

Veronica stepped out of the bathroom clad in just a white bath sheet and hair towel and immediately threw herself next to Logan on the pull-out sofa bed. They'd given Lilly the main bedroom to herself and left the door half-way open in order to keep an eye on her, but after the wild events of the day, the six year old was down for the count.

"How was your shower?" Logan asked, leaning over to kiss Veronica's bare shoulder.

"There is not enough soap in the state of California to make me feel clean," she said

"Why? Did you leave the cap off of the body wash again and knock it over?" he asked, while peppering her neck with a smattering of featherlight kisses.

"Always with the caps!" Veronica yelled while fisting the air with one hand.

"So, uh, you told me you would talk to me after your shower," he said, knowing full well she would fight tooth and nail to not honor her promise.

"No talking tonight, honey. I'm tired," she said, punctuating her declaration with an exaggerated yawn for effect.

"I'm familiar with this ruse, Ms. Mars, so stop trying to weasel out of it," Logan told her firmly.

"Can't I just give you a raincheck on the chat, and then we can make with the sex already?" Veronica begged.

He crossed his arms and turned his head from her. "I'm not your plaything."

Veronica crawled into his lap and whispered into his ear. "I could always be your plaything..."

A shock of electricity traveled directly to his groin and he whimpered internally. She felt amazing, and he still didn't quite believe this was really happening. He wondered if maybe he should just give in to temptation and enjoy the mirage before it fades, but then he looked into her frantic eyes and realized this wasn't about pleasure for her, it was about fear.

Whatever she was hiding from him was scaring the shit out of her, and he wasn't about to endure a replay of their freshman year of college. There would be no rolling over or storming off this time. If they were going to work, he would have to take the bull by the horns no matter how much easier it would be to just give in.

Logan knew she'd react badly, but for both of their sake, he needed to push back. "No. We're doing this now."

"What? Come on Logan, after four days of sleeping on the concrete floor and not knowing if I was ever going to see you again, I just want to be with you," Veronica whined.

"Veronica, we can have sex after we talk," he offered.

"But, I want to have sex with you _now_," she demanded loudly, with a hand firmly planted into her hip and her bottom lip comically poking out.

Logan fought the urge to smile. "God, you're like a porn version of Veruca Salt."

Veronica leaned over and started to nibble on Logan's earlobe. "I'm pretty sure there already is a porn version of Veruca Salt, she stars in 'Chocolate Willy's Wonka-Wonka Factory'," she said as she jokingly tweaked his nipple like a clown horn.

"Your cannot distract me with your wit this time," Logan warned, steeling his resolve to resist her increasingly ardent advances.

"What if I distract you with my hand instead?" Veronica asked as she reached into the front of his pants.

At that, Logan had enough. He pulled her hand out of his pants and threw her backward onto the mattress, pinning both her arms and legs with his own.

"Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!" she shouted, clearly expecting him to ravage her.

Logan looked down at her longingly and sighed.

"What's the matter?" Veronica asked in a sarcastic baby voice.

He pursed his lips in thought. "I'm just trying to imagine what you'd look like in thigh high boots. You know, like Lt. Uhura always wore on Star Trek in the Mirror Universe."

Veronica gasped and strained against his arms. "You think I'm 'Evil Veronica'?"

Logan smiled down on her. "No. That would mean that Real Universe Veronica was good. We both know that's not entirely true."

"I feel strangely like I'm engaging in foreplay with Mac," she mused.

Logan's grin grew larger as he pondered the visual.

"Pervert." Veronica spat with false indignation before using a self-defense move to get the jump on Logan.

Now flipped on his back, Logan looked up at Veronica with amazement. "Great. Now you're feisty _and_ formidable? I guess I should just throw in the towel now, huh?" He didn't know whether to thank the FBI or curse them for giving Veronica more superpowers.

"Don't you dare," she ordered while wedging her head into the crook of Logan's neck, "I like a challenge. Keeps me on my toes."

He held her into his arms as she rested on his chest. Maybe if he could get her to relax she would open up?

Logan pulled the towel off of Veronica's head and tossed it to the floor, letting damp waves cascade onto her shoulders, then ran his hands up the back of her hair to massage her head.

"Mmm. I could get used to this," she purred.

"You will." Logan whispered before dropping a kiss on her scalp. While continuing to massage her head, his fingers brushed over something foreign just behind her left ear, where her neck and skull meet. "What is this?" he asked with concern.

Veronica skittered off of him like a roach, rudely disturbed by the bathroom light switching on.

Logan bolted upright and glared his frustration at her. Something was gnawing in the pit of his gut, and he could feel the panic start to take him. "What was that?" he repeated with intent.

Veronica eyed the door to the room hungrily, and she noticed Logan's whole body tense as she shifted her weight to her outside foot. He could read her mind from across the room and she could read his, and they were frozen at an impasse.

"I'm sitting on my parents' yacht with a bottle of champagne, waiting for you to stand me up all over again," he said, without even a twitch. "Are you coming with me this time, Veronica?"

She looked at the floor.

* * *

Weevil leaned against the wall and kept his mouth shut. After spending the last few hours silently 'guarding' Gory Sorokin, the hothead had almost forgotten Weevil was there. The ability to disappear into the background wasn't a bad skill to have when you're trying to do reconnaissance.

Katka subtly jerked her arm out of Gory's grasp and walked toward the back door of the building. The guy was an asshole, but it was hard not to feel sorry for somebody who looked like they'd just been told their puppy got hit by a car.

With a determined look in his eyes, Gory marched after his ex and pinned her against the wall.

"Gory, stop," she cried, her eyes darting nervously to the sides.

Weevil felt his fists involuntarily ball up at his sides, but he figured he'd let this play out until a hard line was crossed.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me and I'll go," he said quietly to her, so close he could see his breath vibrate the hair on her skin.

Katya's eyes closed tightly and she held back her tears. "Just go. Please go, Gorya."

"Ya tebe kaha yu," Gory said in a low voice as he gently caressed her cheekbone with his thumb. "I know you love me too."

Her head hung down dejectedly and she shook her head. "You are hurting me when you stay here."

He ran both hands up Katya's neck and cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. "Ya tebe kaha yu. Ya tebe kaha yu," he whispered over and over again as he littered her face with soft kisses.

Katya leaned into his kisses and tears fell generously from her eyes.

Weevil felt a lump in his throat from watching them. He knew what it felt like to love somebody impractical, who would never be yours in this lifetime, but as Veronica by way of Woody Allen recently told him, 'The heart wants what the heart wants'. Damn if that punk ass pedo wasn't right about something.

"Tell me," Gory whispered and wiped away her tears with his thumbs.

Katya nodded. "Ya tebe kaha yu, Gorya. Always," she confessed with a pained look on her face that would suggest she just admitted something terrible. "But if my dad see you here, he will kill you."

A strange look passed over Gory's features and he smirked. "Everybody's gotta die someday," he declared before pulling Katya into an embrace and smashing his lips against hers.

Weevil's eyes began to pop, and he found himself actually getting concerned for Gory's safety. The hot chick's old man was talking to Keith only a few yards away, and though his back was to them, it wouldn't take more than a turn of the head for him to catch them en flagrante.

Feeling the heat that Sorokin was obviously choosing to ignore, Weevil wandered directly in front of the couple, essentially blocking them from Petrenko's direct view.

Distracted by the motion, Gory looked up for a moment and made eye contact with Weevil, then nodded his thanks and returned his attention to his woman.

"You have to go," she cried into his neck. "You must or he will have Boris put bullet in your head."

Gory pulled her into him more tightly and sighed. "He'd be doing me a favor. Without you I'm kind of dead inside anyway, so what's the difference?"

Katya began crying again. "Please don't say horrible things," she said, pulling him down for another kiss.

"Come with me," Gory whispered excitedly, like a man possessed. "We can go anywhere in the world. I have money."

She shook her head sadly. "He find us. He will always find us."

"What if he couldn't? I mean, if I could guarantee we'd disappear, would you come with me?" he asked desperately.

Katya looked up at him and smiled. "Tak."

Gory suddenly broke out into a hopeful smile and kissed her soundly. "Come on," he said as he covertly ushered her inside of the club. "I know somebody who is real good at hiding people."

Weevil put his hand to his forehead and squeezed tightly. Veronica was not going to be happy about this little development. Not at all.

* * *

Dick, Mac and Duncan were still making decent time as they trailed Mac's iPhone GPS, though they had to keep to the speed limit if they wanted to avoid being pulled over by the police. If Dick had his way they'd be going twice as fast, but Mac told him he could either keep his car and drive the limit, or speed in a rental car. He naturally chose to keep his car, but she still managed to get him to agree to remove his license plate in lieu of one she'd pried off a car in the Wendy's parking lot as they were getting food.

"Oh man. I really needed this," Duncan rhapsodized as he bit into a cheeseburger.

Mac frowned as she watched him eat and discreetly took a bite of her veggie burger.

"Can I get a bite of that, MacIntosh?" Dick asked, while eyeing her in his peripheral vision.

She laughed. "I don't think you know what you're asking for. You see, this burger is meatless," she explained, pointing to the patty.

Dick rolled his eyes. "Well, it must be terrible if _you're_ eating it," he rationalized. "Come on, I'm starving..." he said, affecting a hangdog expression.

"Oh, okay!" Mac relented with a sigh and brought the burger to his lips. "Open wide, cowboy," she directed.

Dick leaned forward and took a bite, his soft lips ticking the tips of her fingers. She wasn't sure why, but she quickly felt short of breath. "Well?" she asked anxiously as he finished chewing.

"It doesn't suck. I mean, I wouldn't mind eating it if we were hanging out together, but I'd probably go right home afterward and stuff a rib eye in my pie hole," he admitted.

A warm feeling settled in the center of Mac's torso. "Oh, we're going to be hanging out together?"

"You owe me a rematch, Fifth Dimension styles," he said before pretending to blow up a spaceship with his steering wheel. "Promise you won't flake," he said with a glance.

Mac found herself getting lost in the mirth hidden within Dick's gaze. She wondered if his eyes always sparkled like that when he smiled. "I promise," she said quietly and then followed it up with a stern glance. "Eyes on the road, mister."

"Yes, ma'am," he responded cheerfully and turned to look ahead.

Duncan shook his head in disgust. "Man, you do pussy-whipped like nobody's business, Dick."

Dick looked at his friend through the rear view mirror. "What can I say? I like 'em bossy," he said and waggled his eyebrows.

Mac turned to the window with embarrassment and looked away.

"Can I be shallow for a minute?" Duncan asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd go with yes." Mac tilted her head questioningly.

"Fine by me, bro. Shallow is my slipstream," Dick piped in.

Both Mac and Duncan looked at him blankly.

"Define slipstream, Dick" Mac requested, having decided that Dick had no idea what it was.

"Or...maybe _you_ define slipstream?" he challenged.

Her condescending expression dropped off once she realized she had been bested. "Touche."

Duncan cleared his throat. "So I was wondering, you know...what does Veronica look like now?"

Mac was unimpressed by this line of questioning. "Seriously? She just risked her life rescuing your daughter and you're asking us if she's still cute?"

"I know it sounds really bad," he said as he stuffed his trash into a plastic bag. "It's just...I haven't seen her in six years. I've been thinking about her for so long, and the picture I have in my mind is of an 18 year old girl. She's a woman now."

"She still looks about twelve, dude," Dick said with a shrug. "Small..." he gestured to his own breast area.

Duncan smiled. "Well, guess it's good that my fantasies have at least been somewhat accurate."

Mac caught Dick's eye just as he was about to speak and she shook her head no. She could tell he wanted to break the news to Duncan about Logan, but Mac felt it wasn't their place.

"You can't just drop shit like that on people," Dick mumbled quietly out of the corner of his mouth to her.

"What was that?" Duncan asked.

Mac placed a hand on Dick's thigh and squeezed her warning. He looked at her hand and then trailed it up to her face and smirked.

"Are you gonna try and pork Ronnie or something?" he questioned Duncan, his loud voice reverberating off of every window.

Mac sucked in a breath and silently cursed at him through her narrowing eyes. She tried to retrieve her hand from Dick's leg, but he'd clasped his larger hand on top of hers and held it there.

It was obvious he was enjoying her discomfort, which might have irked her had she not been enjoying his enjoyment of her discomfort. She wondered fleetingly if her juice at lunch had been spiked.

Duncan laughed through his embarrassment. "I don't know if I'd phrase it that way."

"How would you phrase it?" Mac asked, now finding herself actually curious about Duncan's endgame.

"I guess I would say that for me, she's the only one. We're soul mates," he explained to her.

Mac frowned and wondered what planet this guy was living on. She'd been friends with Veronica through her relationships with both Duncan and Logan, and while she knew her friend would always have strong feelings of loyalty for Duncan, there's no way in hell she thought he was her soul mate. At least, not while Logan Echolls still walked this Earth.

"Do you think she feels the same way?" she asked.

Duncan shrugged. "I mean, unless she met somebody incredible after I left, I'd say my position in her life is fairly safe."

For some reason, Duncan's assumptions about Veronica were starting to burn Mac up. She never was a big Duncan supporter in high school, particularly disliking him for the way he'd turned his back on her in her after Lilly died.

When Veronica told Mac what happened to her at Shelly's party, and then _still_ chose to get back together with Duncan as if he hadn't violated both her body and trust, she seriously questioned her friend's sanity. In fact, Mac once suggested to Veronica that she might be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, which went over a lot worse with the blonde than even she expected.

To say she was shocked when she heard about Meg's baby would have been like calling Hurricane Katrina a light breeze. When Duncan ran off, she knew Veronica had to have had a hand in it, risking everything she held dear to help him get to the other side of the US border. The only upside to the whole thing was that he had left the country, thus breaking the hold he had over her.

Duncan wasn't around by the time the worst night in Mac's life rolled around. He didn't see Logan throw himself in harm's way to protect Veronica. There was no way he could understand the depth of his best friend's feelings for her, even without the promise of reconciliation.

What had Duncan ever done for Veronica, other than betray her trust in every way possible? Even if Mac didn't consider Logan a close friend (which she did), she'd still volunteer to lay across a busy road to prevent Veronica from crossing it, if Duncan was on the other side waiting for her.

How could he just come home thinking he could pick up where they left off?

The more Mac ruminated on Duncan's transgressions, the angrier she became.

Dick glanced quickly at Mac and squeezed the hand he had plastered to his thigh gently. She looked up at him with consternation and then looked away.

"What's wrong?" he whispered to her, obviously worried her mood change had something to do with him.

She shook her head and turned her eyes toward the man in the back. "Hey Duncan, how do you know Veronica didn't meet somebody incredible _before_ you left?"

Duncan shrugged again. "I don't know. I mean, the only other person she dated seriously was Logan, and I highly doubt she's still thinking about him. She did dump him for me."

"She dumped him because he was acting like a reckless hooligan, it had nothing to do with you," Mac said, correcting him.

Duncan tipped his head down, but Mac could feel his irritation with her radiating off of him like a bad cologne. The air in the car grew heavy with tension, but she was no stranger to a tense room.

When Duncan tipped his head up, his mouth was twisted into a smug smile. "Knowing Logan like I do, I'd be willing to bet he's on wife #4 by now."

"He's not," Mac retorted curtly.

Mac watched as every muscle in Duncan's body tightened. "Are you trying to imply that Logan is still in love with Veronica? After all these years?" he asked before obviously deciding it was crazy. "No way," he said, slicing the air back and forth with his hand.

"How many times did you risk your life to save Veronica's?" she asked him.

Duncan's brow knitted. "I mean...none, I guess. But that kind of thing just didn't come up a lot when we dated."

"I can think of four times off-hand that Logan almost got himself killed to protect her. And that doesn't include the one time Logan decided to go all vigilante and destroy a cop car in order to get tossed in jail, just so he could be in the same cell as the serial rapist who tried to attack Veronica. I'm sure you can figure out what happened to the scumbag after that," she said with pride.

"He sounds pretty unstable," Duncan mused. "Not that he's ever been otherwise..."

Mac nodded. "He's not irrational like that anymore, though I'm 100% certain he'd still throw himself in front of a bullet for her."

Duncan leaned his elbows forward onto his knees and shot Mac a menacing look. "You think I wouldn't do the same? I still love Veronica. I owe her for my daughter's life," he growled.

Mac could feel her chest heaving with spite, and found herself trying to stave off the unbearable urge to punch Duncan smack in the middle of his smug face.

She felt Dick lift her hand off of his leg and thread their fingers together tightly. He was looking at her with a strange expression of concern, almost as if he knew what she was fantasizing about doing. Maybe he figured she wouldn't be able to throw a punch if her hand was otherwise occupied?

"What's your problem anyway? What happens between Veronica and me is between us, so maybe you should find another hobby," Duncan spat. "Unless you're like, in love with her too?" he taunted through a smile.

"That's enough man," Dick warned Duncan sternly.

"This chick has no idea what she's talking about. She's obviously obsessed with Veronica and threatened by me being back" he responded indignantly.

"_I'm_ obsessed with Veronica?" Mac asked with a laugh.

Dick frowned and glared at Duncan through the rear view mirror. "One more time, 'Donut'. You're my bro, but I am going to have to come back there and give you a smack if you talk to her like that again."

Duncan exhaled roughly and threw his arms in the air. "Whatever. This has nothing to do with her anyway."

Unable to resist anymore, Mac turned to Duncan and offered him a huge smile. "I know it's none of my business, but I thought you might like to know that I know for a fact that Logan isn't over Veronica because he's currently fucking her. Not sure what your reason for coming home was, but Veronica came back to Neptune for Logan."

With that, Mac turned back to the dashboard and switched on the radio. George Thorogood's 'Bad to the Bone' came blaring from the speakers and she couldn't help but laugh at the serendipity.

It was bad of her to do that, she knew, but a girl can only be pushed so far. She never liked Duncan then, and liked him even less today. Besides, she may be a computer geek from just over the good side of the tracks, but nobody talks smack about her friends, especially this dipshit. If he kept it up, Duncan would soon learn the hard way just how stupid of a mistake it would be to piss off a crack hacker like herself.

Dick raised an amused eyebrow in Mac's direction and bit back a smile. "Badass," he murmured.

Through the visor mirror, Mac could see Duncan staring a hole through her head and gritting his teeth.

* * *

Veronica stared at the ground and tried to avoid her boyfriend's eyes. She had been dreading this conversation since the day she set foot in Neptune, but knew it would happen sooner or later. She was hoping for later though – much later – like maybe in fifty years.

She had all but decided to shut down the conversation and tell him she would only talk to him when she was good and ready, but then he mentioned their aborted first date to Catalina, and she felt her insides crumble. The fact is, there would never be a time when she would be ready to talk about what happened to her, but he deserved to know.

Being reminded how she had been shutting Logan out since the day they got together cut Veronica deeply. If she didn't find a way to share herself with Logan this time, it would be him walking out first, not her. She just couldn't hurt him anymore like that. She wouldn't. He'd shared practically every facet of his life with her, and she had trouble even disclosing her daily schedule.

Logan deserved more than what he was used to getting from people, even if he might not demand it for himself.

Veronica let out staccato breath and lifted her head. "Okay," she said softly and could see a tidal wave of relief instantly wash over Logan.

He smiled tentatively and ran a hand roughly through his hair. "Okay."

Veronica walked back over to the bed as if listening to a dirge. As her knees hit the bed frame, Logan leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his head in her chest.

"You stayed," he mumbled into her torso. "I didn't think you would stay," he said, sighing into her.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and rested her cheek on the top of his head. "Where you go, I go."

Logan laughed his contentment and squeezed her tighter. "Five years, ten years...it doesn't seem to matter with us."

Veronica smiled and knew what he meant. They were a part of each other and had been since the day they'd met. No amount of time could dull that fact.

The trouble was. Logan needed her to need him, and needing others was something Veronica trained out her self a long time ago. For him though, she had to try.

"When I helped you make that memorial video for Lilly and they had the dedication at the fountain, you looked up and smiled at me. I always wondered what were you thinking then," Veronica said.

Logan let out a puff of air and leaned back to see her face. "I was thinking 'What the hell am I doing pushing one of the best things in my life out of the door?'."

"I always wondered that too," she said with a look.

"It's just...I realized how much you still meant to me, despite my rather Herculean efforts to the contrary. Being with you there made me feel like myself again, and of course, I couldn't stop thinking about you after that. After I found out about my mom, when you held me in your arms...I just knew. I knew I was in love with you. But yeah, that night sort of opened my eyes."

Veronica wiped a tear from her eye and pressed her lips to his. She knew how he felt that night, because she felt that same way right now. For the first time in five years, she felt like herself. How could she have been so stupid and stubborn for so long?

Logan ghosted the sides of her face with his fingertips and dragged his lips back and forth across hers before taking one of them into his mouth. He pulled her onto the bed and dug his hands into her hair, kissing her like he was about to go into battle, even though he knew it was she who would be facing her enemy.

After a few minutes of being pressed breathlessly against each other, Veronica came up for air.

She reached across to the night table and grabbed a clip she'd left there earlier, then gathered her hair up and secured it. After taking a moment to muster her strength, she turned her back to him and finally exposed the long, angry-looking scar sitting just below her back hairline.

She could hear Logan's breath catch as he ran his fingers over it with a whisper-soft touch.

Veronica straightened her back and took a deep breath. She would be telling him things that nobody should ever have to hear. Once she'd let the genie out of the bottle, she knew she would be sharing with him the same nightmare that had kept her up every single night until the one she'd spent with him at The Neptune Grand. Only with him was she able to sleep, and that alone made her positive she had made the right call in coming home.

* * *

**A/N - Don't hate me for the cliffhanger - the explanation was just too long to put in one chapter, so I had to break things up. But hey, you got to see Mac hand Duncan his ass, so there's that :)**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this - thanks to everybody who is subscribing to the story - and especially thanks to all of you who marked it as a 'favorite'. All of you are amazing! Your comments are gold. Please keep 'em coming.**


	19. Chapter 19

**This chapter is coming to you direct from the United Kingdom, complete with major jetlag, so please be kind about any typos/grammatical errors. They will be fixed in no time. Also, the chapter is rated M, because it's Christmas, and we all deserve the gift of smut, no?**

**One last thing – WOW! That's all I have to say about the response to the last chapter. By far the greatest number of reviews for any chapter yet, and for that, I am really thankful – it's also the reason I'm busting my bleary-eyed ass to bring you ch 19. Since I know so many of you are waiting for it, I pushed myself a bit. If it sucks, blame the jet lag (please?). If it's good, please let me know in the reviews section and I'll try to deliver another one soon :)**

**By the way, I recently received a review calling this chapter 'racist' because of the events depicted in it (you'll see what was being referred to when you read it). Let me be clear, this story DID HAPPEN to a Palestinian friend of mine. I even named the character after her as a tribute. She was lucky enough and brave enough to have a happy ending to her story, but others she knew where not as lucky. I research everything I write every carefully, and this story is not embellished, except for the part at the end where she lives (my friend ran away from home for three years). Unfortunately, it takes place every day, and talking about it doesn't make me a racist, it makes me a woman who believes in shining a light on things that are going on under our noses.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 19**

Veronica stood up and paced the room as she geared herself up for her confessional. Living through it once was bad enough, but the prospect of reminiscing the events of the worst day of her life stole most of her waking hours. And since she'd taken leave from the Bureau, there had been way too many of those for her liking.

When Lilly died, Veronica was able to push the horror from her mind by preoccupying herself with finding the rightful murderer. Like a sharp tug of the steering wheel on a car in desperate need of alignment, her quest kept her mind from drifting back to the specter of her best friend's bloodied corpse lying helplessly on the ground. If she was interrogating her former friends or tracking down Abel Kuntz's daughter, she wasn't thinking about Lilly's lifeless blue eyes, still impossibly wide with shock.

She hadn't even told her dad the details of that day. When he got to the hospital and asked her what happened, she simply handed him a copy of the declassified FBI report and went back to sleep. It was bad enough that he had to know, but to hear it from her lips...no dad should have to experience that.

Logan looked at Veronica expectantly and she sighed. There was no way around this one. After a lifetime of being kept in the dark by her, he deserved this, and as much as it pained her to admit it, she did too. She deserved a happy life, and whatever she had been doing up until today was not getting her there, she had to try something drastically different in order to have a different outcome.

Veronica cleared her throat and begin speaking softly. "Two months ago, I was on an assignment in Chicago. I was investigating a cluster of murders targeting Arab teenage girls. I went undercover at their local high school, changed my appearance, the normal stuff. At the end of the day, it turned out that we didn't have a serial killer on our hands, these girls had been killed by their families, their fathers and uncles."

"Jesus..." Logan mumbled under his breath as he unconsciously touched an old scar from a cigarette burn.

Veronica nodded slightly and took another deep breath before continuing. "One family in particular had been extraordinarily brutal. Two sisters, one sixteen and the other eighteen, had been found..." she covered her mouth with a shaky hand and regained her composure. "...so I tried to make contact with one of their female cousins to see if I could get any insight."

"Their cousin, Eman, actually sought me out. I was the new kid at school and she saw me alone in the cafeteria and invited me to sit with her. We got close pretty quickly. She was so warm and funny, but there was there was something about her, the way she flinched whenever somebody got too close to her when she wasn't expecting it, that made me think something wasn't right at home," she explained, her voice becoming more sure of itself.

She could see Logan processing this information and reflexively tighten his posture at the hint of abuse. It was obvious what he was thinking, as it always was. "One afternoon, she confided in me that she had secretly dating a white boy in her school. They'd only played chess together and sneaked out to the movies once or twice. It hadn't even gone beyond kissing, but one of her male cousins found them in the library studying together and he told her father. A few days later, her uncles had brought her to three separate gynecologists to make sure that her hymen was in tact."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Logan asked with incredulity.

She shook her head. "I wish were."

His brow furrowed with concern for the girl. "Was she..I mean, was it there?"

Veronica worried her lip. She couldn't help thinking about how her own hymen broke, and how she would never have measured up to the standard these cavemen set, even though it was through no fault of her own. "It was gone, but not from sex, she liked to ride her bike a lot like most normal teenaged girls do."

While Veronica couldn't meet Logan's gaze, she could feel his eyes trying to penetrate her, as if he could somehow hug her soul if he focused hard enough. It was this kind of intensity that used to be too much for her when they were together as teens, but now she found it comforting. "Anyway, one day Eman wasn't in school, and I got a text from her begging for help. She said the doctors told her uncles that she wasn't a virgin, and they were trying to kill her. She was scared out of her mind and had locked herself in her bathroom. I told her to call the police and I jumped in a cab. I knew I should've waited for backup, because it was protocol, but she was just so...panicked. Eman was only seventeen, you know, how could I not go immediately?"

Logan smiled sadly at Veronica and tried to hold her hand, but she shook him off. She wouldn't be able to get through to tough part with him trying to comfort her. Like a bitter tonic, it was something she needed to just suck up on her own.

"My idea was that I would sneak her out and get her to a safe house or something. I figured that with a gun, it would be a cinch. I just texted my partner the address and went to her. I hadn't even walked two feet inside the house when I was jumped by two of her relatives and tied up to a radiator pole," Veronica said, her breaths becoming shallower with each sentence.

"They made me..." she stopped and pressed both hands over her eyes. Logan wrapped his arm around her waist but she wiggled out. She wouldn't be able to get through this if she had to look at him. "They made me...watch...while they c-cut off her head with a small hunting knife," she said with a broken voice as she became dizzy from the memory, but she forced herself to push on. "It...it took about ten minutes...and she was...screaming and gurgling for a long time, like an animal at the slaughterhouse, and it was...so brutal...there are no words, Logan...no words."

When Veronica finally lifted her head to look at him, she was red-faced and covered in tears, panting and gasping for air through her sobs. Her heart raced and she thought about the bottle of Xanax she had hidden away in her handbag and how long it would be until she could get to it. She had been suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks since that awful afternoon, and she could feel one coming on like a freight train now.

"Veronica, I..." Not knowing what to say, Logan just threw his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. She struggled to break free, but he held her tightly until her body started to relax. "It's okay...I've got you...I've got you..." he murmured into the top of her head, sprinkling her hair with soft kisses.

With half her face buried into his shoulder, Veronica forced herself to continue. "After that, they told me that I was next," she said, feeling Logan's arms pull her closer. "And they held me to the same wood block they'd just had Eman on. My face was p-pushed into a..." even now she had to fight her gag reflex to get it out. "...into a puddle of her blood, and several men were holding me down. About 10 seconds after they cut into the back of my neck, my partner burst through the door with back up and took out every man in the room." She could feel her body starting to shudder, and so could Logan, so he yanked the bedspread off and wrapped it snugly around her shoulders.

"The knife severed a vein, but they hadn't gotten near my artery yet, so I didn't bleed out. I was lucky," she whispered with a nod. "It took the doctors about 50 stitches inside and out to sew up the gash in my neck, but the wound was shallow compared to the one inside of me."

"I'd seen plenty of people die in front of me before, mostly perps who were gunned down by one of the agents, but never anything like this...it changes a person. She was just a teenager, Logan. Who could do that to a little girl?" Veronica rasped through ragged breath, realizing a moment too late that saying this would trigger yet another horrible memory of Aaron for her boyfriend. After all, Lilly was just a teenager when his father killed her, and so was Veronica, when Aaron tried to murder her in such a gruesome fashion.

She could hear Logan sniffling and mumbling words of apology above her and wondered if he was crying for what happened to her back then or now.

Veronica pulled back to look at Logan's face. "I just...I just couldn't go on the way I was after that. I took a leave of absence from the Bureau and walked around like a zombie for six weeks, disconnected from my body and wandering aimlessly. Without my job, it was like I'd completely lost my identity, but then one day I heard your name being called out in the park - and I knew," she said, a smile forcing it's way through her sorrow, like the sun pushing it's way through a dark sky.

"What did you know?" he asked as he pressed his hand against her wet cheek.

"I knew I'd never feel normal or like myself again until I was with you," she said and leaned into his grasp.

"I have a talent for making others feel normal by comparison," Logan remarked without irony as he pulled her into his lap.

"You're an idiot," Veronica said, laughing through her tears.

"Yeah," he whispered as he rocked her gently in his arms. ""Only on the even numbered days, though."

* * *

Weevil caught Keith's eye as he followed Gory and Katya into the back door of The Red Room Club.

Katya hesitated. "When we do this, I am no longer his daughter."

"He doesn't treat you like a daughter anyway, you're no better than an employee here," Gory said. "...or maybe his show pony," he mumbled bitterly.

"But my mother is dead, Gorya. I have no family but him," she claimed, tears beginning to well again in her eyes..

"I'm not the one making you choose, he is!" he snapped angrily, causing Katya to flinch. Upset with himself for yelling at her, he dug the heels of both hands into his eyes and let out a quiet grunt. "I'm so sorry, baby. It's not you. This is just..."

She pulled his hands from his face. "I know," she said before leaning her lips against his. "It is hard for both of us."

Gory sweetly ran the back of his knuckles down her bare arm. "Anyway, you do have family. You've got me, and I treat you better than he ever did. I'm going yo take care of you, kohana, and protect you from all this crap. Making you work in this place is just bullshit," he said, getting het up again as he gestured around the club with a look of disgust. "Anything could happen to you here. It's not a life for you."

Katya ran her hands up and down his cheeks softly. "Shh. Prokhannya ne turbuvatysya, dorohoyu," she whispered to him sweetly. Gory closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "It is true, he make me do very bad things, but he _will_ kill you if I leave. You know this."

"I'll take my chances." He pulled her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. "It's the only way we can stay together. You do want to stay together, Katya, don't you?"

She tilted her head up and kissed him gently. "Of course I do."

"Then I suggest you pack fast and light," Gory said, before abruptly spinning her body around and slapping her playfully on the behind. "And leave all of those damned stilettos here, will you? Every time you try to walk in those, I get another grey hair."

She looked at him over her shoulder, then ran off down the stairs and out of site.

Weevil felt a pang of regret inside. In another life, this is what he would have wanted with Lilly. He knew that part of her genuinely loved him, at least that's what he told himself at the time, but not enough to give up Easy Street for. The only thing that prevented that knowledge from crushing him, was that she wouldn't have given up the life of a princess for any man, even that jackass she was always going back to. Lilly was nothing if not pragmatic.

Gory turned to Weevil and calmly surveyed him. "How'd you like to make an easy 10 grand?"

Weevil balked. "Come on, vato. We both know there's no such thing as an easy 10 grand."

The mob scion smiled in agreement. "Okay, how about 15 the hard way then?

"I'm listening..." he said, smoothing a hand over his shiny dome.

"You remember Clarence Wiedman?" he asked.

Weevil's brows raised. "Not exactly an easy man to forget."

"I need you to get in touch with him, tell him I'm ready to do what we talked about and then have him call me on a burner phone. I'll call you with the number," Gory explained. "I also need to you get Katya out of here safely. I can't risk Petrenko seeing me drive off with her."

Weevil shrugged. "That's it?"

Gory leaned forward. "Do you know what a liaison is, Navarro?" he asked.

"I'm brown, I'm not stupid," he said. Gory continued to look at him expectantly. "Yeah, I know what a liaison is. I ran a gang for several years, except the PCHers called them middlemen," he responded.

"Good, then I shouldn't have to draw a map for you," Gory said. "I'm going to be about half a mile down the main road at the nearest Central Bank office. I want you to get Katya, then circle around town for 15 minutes to keep suspicion down and then come pick me up. Then, we hightail it out of there."

"To where, exactly?" Weevil questioned.

Gory shrugged. "That all depends on how your little chat with Wiedman goes."

Weevil shakes his head with amusement. "You know, I couldn't figure out why before, but I know now why Echolls gets under your skin so bad."

"Enlighten me," he encouraged with an affected boredom as he checked his watch again.

"You two are the same fucking person. Entitled, over-confident, spoiled, little white boys driving your douchebag cars around town. You throw punches without using your head and chase after dangerous blondes you have no business messing with. He's like your twin," Eli said with a laugh.

"That's not exactly a way to talk to the man paying your bills, ese." Gory barked. "What's your point?"

"My point is, you're going to pay me 20. If you're half as annoying as Logan Echolls, and I'm betting you are, you should consider this me giving you a bargain. I know I do."

Gory stared at Weevil and considered his proposal. "Fine. 20 it is, but you'd better make yourself worth it."

"I always am," Grinned Weevil as Gory walked away.

Weevil opened the back door again and walked over to Keith and Petrenko, who stopped talking immediately as he approached.

Alexei observed him for a moment with passive curiosity, the way a Venus Flytrap might look at it's winged prey as it ambled unknowingly past it.

Guys like Petrenko always pissed Weevil off. They grinned at you like they had a secret, but it's only to put you at ease, so when they pop you in the back of the head you never see it coming.

"Mr. Navarro, right? You work for Sorokin, no?" Alexei asked, knowing full well that he did (at least in spirit).

"I work for myself," Weevil replied with an edge. "You can consider me a free agent."

Alexei's smile lifted higher. From some angles, it might actually appear to be genuine to the average schmo. "Okay free agent, whatever you are, are you looking to upgrade your position?"

Weevil could feel Keith trying to communicate with him through his peripheral vision. "Depends on who's hiring and what it's for."

"A discriminating mercenary? How refreshing," he continued undeterred, his smile unbroken. "What would you say if I were the one who was hiring?"

"What'd you have in mind? As you know, I've got something going on right now with Mr. Sorokin," Weevil said.

Alexei lowered his chin and looked intently at the ex-thug. "Yes, that's rather the point."

"You want me to spy on him." Weevil stated, too tired to beat around the bush.

For the first time in several hours, the Ukrainian's smile dropped. "I could never ask you to do something so underhanded...not to mention illegal."

Weevil rolled his eyes. "How much?"

"How much is he paying you?" Petrenko asked.

"30," Weevil lied with bravado. He'd always been able to bargain like rug salesman in The Grand Bazaar.

Alexei smiled his infuriating smile. He obviously wasn't a man who ever took no for an answer, so what did he have to feel down about anyway? He ran a masculine hand over his beard and looked Weevil in the eyes. "Double it."

Weevil smirked. Looks like somebody is getting the 'Vinny Special'. The big question though, is who?

* * *

The car was quiet as Duncan slept, Mac toiled away on her iPad, and Dick kept his eyes focused ahead of him...but he couldn't take the miserable silence anymore and started to sing - more for Mac's attention than to pass the time.

"_On the sidewalk, one Sunday morning__  
__Lies a body, oozin' life__  
__Someone's sneaking 'round the corner__  
__Could that someone be Mack the Knife?"_

Mac turned her head and looked at him with appreciation. "Every time I think I've hit the bottom of the well with you, you get a little deeper."

"You're not the only one allowed to have secrets, Macintosh," he declared with his signature pout.

Dick liked her. No, scratch that. Dick thought he liked her, but didn't really understand just how much he really _fucking_ liked her until about 24 hours ago, and it was beginning to freak him the hell out. She couldn't be less his type and she used to fool around with his dead kid brother, but for some reason neither of those things were proving to be a great deterrent.

He liked how smart she was, that she was a cool hang, and the way her eyes smiled at him even when she tried to frown. He didn't even mind the verbal beat-downs much, especially since she was usually right on the money.

Being a laid back guy, he wasn't one for questioning why something did what it did, but she was definitely doing something to him, because if he wasn't keeping his eyes on the road and off of her, they would probably have ended up in a ditch by now.

"So uh, what? Were you secretly a minor in Weimer era operettas?" she coaxed teasingly.

"Yeah, I have no idea what the last half of what you said was. Was that even in English or was that like, what they speak in Middle Earth?" Dick asked, with a wrinkled nose.

Mac snorted in a way that still managed to be ladylike. "That was Dorkese for 'How do you know that song?'"

"Big Dick is a big fan of 'The Chairman of the Board'. He used to have all his CDs on repeat in the car when I was growing up. Man, he really loved 'Mack the Knife'. No matter where we were or what time of day it was, he would always pump up the volume and sing at the top of his lungs whenever it came on," he said.

She smiled. "My dad loves Sinatra too. Would you believe me if I told you he does the exact same thing?"

Dick caressed the bottom of the steering wheel with the pads of his fingers as they sat face up on his lap. "Guess 'Mack the Knife' is for old dudes what 'Single ladies' is for young chicks...and before you start in, don't even try to deny that you like to rock out that finger every time Beyonce pipes in. All chicks do it, and last time I checked, you have girl parts, so..."

Mac blushed and casually crossed her legs. "You were checking out my girl parts?"

"If you're around me and you have girl parts, you can be pretty sure I've been checking them out. I always do," he said with a waggle of the brow.

She made a show of being disgusted, but a hint of a smile peeked out from under her manufactured scowl.

Dick smirked and started to hum the chorus of 'Single Ladies'.

"Now put your hands up," Mac sang under her breath in monotone as she lifted her hand and gave it a half-assed little shake.

"Holla" he cheered her on quietly through cupped hands, careful not to wake Duncan. No reason to have him up and pissing off Mac with his mere existence.

Mac leaned her forehead against the passenger side window, and Dick could see her smile in the reflection of the glass and wondered if he was actually making headway.

"Do you know how much longer we're gonna be on the road?" he asked, secretly hoping she say fifteen more hours, even though that would probably put them somewhere in the middle of Oregon.

She looked at the map app on her iPad and then closed the lid. "We're actually only about 20 minutes away," she relayed in a subdued tone.

"Oh," he said with a breath and tightened his hands around the wheel.

"Yeah," she said with an unreadable expression.

* * *

Logan planted a few kisses along Veronica's hairline and tightened his grip on her waist. "I'm so sorry I pressured you to tell me everything. God, you have no idea how sorry."

"I'm not," Veronica said quietly to herself, before staring at him placidly. "You know, I always thought that I _was _that job. It was all I thought about from about age sixteen through college, but when I left it, I was shocked by the relief I felt."

Logan tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "Federal agent or not, you'll always be a superhero to me. Like one of the Powerpuff Girls."

Her brow wrinkled. "Which one?"

"Blossom, clearly," he said matter-of-factly.

Veronica approved of his answer, trying not to think too hard why he'd have knowledge of this. Then again, Logan seemed to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of almost everything, as long as it was esoteric. It was one of the things she loved most about him. "The Bureau made me see a shrink for a while and in one of the first sessions, the doctor asked me what the happiest time in my life was, you know, when I felt like the most like myself. I realized it was when I was with you."

"You mean when Lilly was alive?" he asked.

She shook her head. "When we first got together and we were sneaking around, before the whole Felix shitstorm."

Logan smiled smugly. "I believe you're referring to the summer we spent diddling each other in the backseat of my beautiful Xterra. I knew you didn't hate that car as much as you let on."

"No you're right...I hated it _so_ much more than I let on," Veronica retorted. "Hideous as it was though, it was actually pretty roomy on the inside," she said as her arms crept up the back of his shirt. "And even roomier once the PCHers blew out the window."

"Very droll, Sugarpuss," Logan murmured as he pulled the knot out of her towel. "Oops."

"One mention of diddling and he goes straight for the towel," she said with a smirk.

"Come on, you're sitting on my lap naked. I don't think the passing mention of us diddling each other is the thing that put me over the edge," he replied.

She looked down at the towel, now pooled around her waist and sighed. "Didn't it though?"

Logan shrugged. "I'm going to buy you a t-shirt that says Federal Bullshit Investigator. I assume you're a child's size large?" he asked before pulling the towel from her waist and tossing it to the floor.

Veronica gasped loudly. "Looks like I'm gonna need a t-shirt now. Hmm...I wonder what Amanda Ares would do in my situation," she said, while batting her lashes at him.

Logan's eyes grew dark with lust as he absentmindedly ran a finger down the valley between her breasts. "Well...there was this one time, where Amanda began having an affair with this guy she suspected might be a murderer."

"Sacre bleu!" Veronica exclaimed dramatically. "However did he manage to talk his way into her bed?"

He gave her a lopsided smile, the kind that always made her stomach leap. "He had his charms. Besides, she was the one who made the first move," he informed her.

"That hussy," she spat, before leaning toward him. "Did she do...something like this?" she asked before chastely pecking the side of his mouth.

One of Logan's hands found its way to her right breast, brushing over her nipple with his thumb. "Why, yes. It was remarkably just like that," he said. "He of course, took it as an invitation to put things into first gear," he continued, as he grabbed the back of her head with his other hand and pulled her toward him. He hungrily covered her mouth with his own, while continuing to fondle her gently.

Veronica felt overwhelmed. Their sex life had always been dynamite, but in the past it was all raw, carnal need, like they might die if they didn't get the chance to couple. This time though, it was different. The need was still there as always, but it was draped lovingly, like the most luxurious fabric, over a solid bodice of intimacy that held everything up.

They'd had glimpses of it in the past, but even when they were at their best, she could never let herself love him with abandon. The thought was paralyzing until now.

"The suspect also had this way with his hands...that just drove Amanda wild," Logan informed her, wiggling his fingers in front of her face before slipping his hand between her legs to ghost over her most sensitive area.

Veronica pressed herself into his palm to create more friction. "Tell me more about these magic hands, of which you speak."

Logan swiftly dropped Veronica onto her back on the mattress. "It would probably be easier if I just demonstrated," he offered while crawling on top of her naked body.

"You know what a stickler for details I am," she said in agreement. She pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it in the direction of the towel, then swiftly unbuckled his pants and eased them down his legs.

Logan buried his head into the crook of her neck and she moaned softly. Slowly, one of his hands made it's way up her torso and settled firmly over her mouth as the other one rubbed fast circles below. "Careful Amanda," he whispered into her neck. "We have company in the next room."

Her back arched as her hips bucked toward him, pushing for greater contact. In response, he slipped two fingers inside of her and started to coax her toward bliss as he took one of her pebbled buds into his mouth and bit down gently.

A muffled cry escaped Veronica's lips as Logan stroked her harder. She shook his hand off of her mouth and lunged for a kiss. "I need..." she said as she parted her lips and let his tongue inside to swipe over hers with its usual finesse.

"God Logan..." she panted into his mouth, impatiently reaching down and wrapping one of her hands around his firmness.

Feeling too eager to wait any longer, Logan abandoned his task and plunged himself into her without warning. Pleasure mixed with pain, and a throaty groan tumbled out of her unexpectedly, much to his delight.

"God, you're so beautiful," he said, pushing himself into her as deep as he could go.

Veronica whimpered and wrapped her legs around his neck.

"What your little noises do to me..." Logan growled as he tried to push deeper.

"Oh fuck..." she hissed.

His hand flew up to cover her mouth again and he nailed her harder into the bed. "God damn, you're flexible," he swore, breathing hard. "I remember you in that little pep squad uniform in high school, the way those short-shorts hugged your ass when you were jumping all around. I used to watch you when you weren't looking. You have no idea how badly I wanted to bend you over the bleachers and fuck the shit out of you until you forgot your own name."

Veronica could feel herself inching closer to the edge. If there was one thing Logan was good at, it was dirty talk. The guy could probably get a girl off from across the room.

"Naughty Logan. Weren't you supposed to be checking out Lilly's ass?" she scolded as she climbed higher and higher.

He slid his arms under her shoulders and grasped the back of her head for leverage as he stroked her senseless. "Oh, I checked out her ass too, Ronnie. The difference was, I wasn't allowed to touch yours. Forbidden fruit and all," he quipped through ragged breath.

Veronica brought her legs down scooted off the bed, Logan grunted at the loss of contact and looked at her with a horrified expression.

She smirked at him and spread her legs, then leaned over the side of the bed wiggling her ass in the air. "I know it's not the bleachers, but...you can touch my ass now."

Logan eyes widened. "Go Pirates," he rasped eagerly as he grabbed her hips and entered her from behind with a groan. "Touch yourself," he demanded hotly into her ear, as he brought his fingers to her nipples to toy with her.

Veronica followed orders, and with each sharp slam, she could feel herself losing more control. "Logan..." she whispered through a clenched jaw as her body began to shake. "God...I love you...I really do..." she confessed, accompanied by a sharp internal clench, before being reduced to a quivering boneless mass around him.

A few more strokes and he was right there with her, falling over the edge as he cursed her name over and over again.

Sweaty and spent, Logan was 175 pound of dead weight on Veronica's tiny frame, but feeling his heavy body on top of hers was a reminder that he was actually there and that this was real.

After a few moments, Logan pulled out of Veronica and flipped her over to face him. She was glowing, smiling like an idiot, adrenaline and euphoria replacing the fear and despair she had endured for the better part of a week.

"That was...horrible. When are you going to get better at this already? There's only so much bad sex one woman can take," she admitted with an arched brow.

Logan removed matted, wet strands of hair from her face and kissed her desperately. "Practice makes perfect, Babycakes. I'm just going to have to do it again soon and give it the old college try."

Veronica looked at him haughtily. "See that you do."

* * *

**A/N – Hope you liked the chapter - I know it wasn't a game-changer, but I thought we needed something fun after hearing the horror of that Veronica went through. I also hope that some of her erratic/impulsive/OOC behavior makes more sense now that you see the kind of post-traumatic stress disorder she's been dealing with. Please let me know what you think. Consider your review a Christmas present to me – I certainly will :)**

**Hope you have a safe and happy holiday! Thanks again for reading and reviewing xox**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hope you all had a nice holiday! I'm still in the UK, but actually had a little down time to work on the fic, so here it is – chapter 20. No smut to be had in this one, but some MaDi UST (Trademark: SilverLining2k6), more Duncan-bashing and even a little appearance by Mr. Cool himself (aka Wiedman).**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing over Christmas. I can't believe you actually took the time – you are all awesome :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 20**

Veronica pressed her ear against Logan chest and smiled. If she closed her eyes, it was almost like it was when they first got together. Their relationship was all instinct then, because thinking about who they were and what they were doing with one another was just not an option at the time. It all was too complicated and too raw then, yet they couldn't stay away from each other.

Yes, her life was complicated now too, but she'd be the first to admit that it's always been that way. Even before Lilly died, when she was Neptune's reigning princess, too innocent and pure to touch in her ivory tower, her life was an unmitigated mess.

After all, would a princesses have had to hold their mother's hair back while she puked a ½ bottle of gin into the toilet? How many princesses routinely walked themselves five miles home from soccer practice while still in their cleats because their mother was too drunk to drive or too busy fucking their boyfriend's daddy to remember to pick them up? She may have been pure back then, but she was far from innocent.

The day Veronica marched into school, having traded her flowing, royal tresses for a homegrown shag may have seemed sudden to the kids at Neptune High, but as far as she was concerned it was a long time coming.

Intellectually, she knew she was a little bit crazy. She had to be nuts to care about the kind of stuff that gives most people nightmares, and to court danger with the level of abandon that no sane individual would ever consider. A girl her age who had seen and done what she had, would never have a smooth ride as far as relationships were concerned. It was straight up audacity to ever assume that she would, she had seen too much.

Veronica was better off alone, rather than torturing civilians like Piz, who unsuspectingly stumbled into her hall of mirrors and then deluded themselves into thinking they could change her, that she could be fixed simply with the love of a good man. Some of them were so good they even had her believing it herself, but never completely. When the lights were out at night and nobody was around to judge, she knew it was futile to hope for something as impossible as normalcy. You can't _un_damage a piece of fruit and the same holds true for a teenage girl. She couldn't change if she wanted to, and the reality was that she really didn't.

Like it or lump it, her anger is what defined her, and if she didn't have that to drive her, then who would she be? Certainly not Veronica Mars.

Veronica felt Logan's heartbeat pulse under her fingers and rubbed his chest back and forth gently, letting his soft hair massage her fingertips. "You know I have to go back, right?" she asked, knowing full well what his response was going to be.

Logan groaned and trapped her body with both of his legs.

She laughed and struggled to break free. "I have to. I wish I didn't, but I don't have a choice."

"The difficulty in life is the choice," he mumbled with his lids still at half mast.

She cast her eyes upward at him. "Marquis de Sade again?"

Logan let out a prolonged, dramatic exhale. "No, that one was George Moore. Should I be annoyed that you never fail to assume I'm quoting somebody else whenever I say something profound? Do I not scream 'deep thinker' to you?"

"You do when you shout it loudly enough, honey," she purred as she touched the end of his nose patronizingly.

"One day I'm going to say something really worthwhile, and you're going to think it's a quote by Noam Chomsky or Benjamin Franklin, and then won't you feel like a total heel when you find out it's actually a Logan Echolls original?" Logan asked as he stroked the top of her hair. "You might even hang your head in shame as you spoon humble pie into your pretty little mouth," he placed a light kiss on her lips.

Veronica snorted. "If humble pie tastes like any other pie, I'm in, head hanging and all. I'd do anything for pie."

"Pie whore though you may be, you wouldn't be able to stomach the humble variety. It tastes bitter, like the tears of my indignity," he mused, followed by a pout.

She inched closer to Logan and licked his cheek. "You taste pretty sweet to me."

"Is it wrong that this is turning me on?" Logan asked with a cockeyed grin before returning the wet gesture.

Veronica shrieked and he clamped a hand down over her mouth and admonished her with a harsh shushing, before rolling her tiny body under his. "Quit yer shenanigans. Unless, of course, you feel like explaining to a six year old why Auntie Veronica and Uncle Logan are naked wrestling."

She slowly pulled his hand from her face. "You know you love my shenanigans. And my tomfoolery."

"Maybe...but I draw the line at hijinks," he retorted.

Veronica looked at Logan longingly, tracing his features with the tip of her index finger. "I have to go back."

Logan shook his head and his lips tightened into an angry purse. "No. Just...no. You already put your life at risk once for that guy and I'm not letting you do it again, Veronica. What did Duncan Kane ever do for you, other than take advantage of you while you were passed out? He's always been a fucking taker, as far as I'm concerned."

Veronica let Logan's words hang in the air, choosing not to address the more salacious claims. "He was your best friend," she said with a sigh and caressed the sides of his face. "I'm not risking my life for him, I'm doing it for her," she said, her eyes indicating the small girl in the next room. "She doesn't have anyone other than him."

"We'll take care of her," he said.

She laughed at his flippant offer. "You have no idea what it's like to raise a child, Logan, and even if you did, she's not ours to raise."

He looked at her with such a frigid intensity that she could almost feel herself drifting farther and farther away like a broken glacier. "I don't know why I thought it would be different this time around."

Fear clenched Veronica's heart and her bottom lip started to quiver. "What...what are you saying?" she asked between shallow breaths. Anxiety assaulted her like an ice pick and she could feel her blood run cold. She knew there was a chance this decision would drive Logan away, but she _couldn't_ lose him.

Veronica was standing on the edge of an endless abyss and Logan was her tether, the only thing preventing her from falling into the dark pool of nothingness. If he left her, she truly worried about what would become of her sanity, yet she knew she couldn't yield. If it came down to choosing Lilly's welfare over her own, there wasn't really a choice to be made. It would always be Lilly's.

Logan exhaled roughly and rolled off of her. He ran a hand nervously through his hair and shook his head, almost as if he was disappointed with himself. "I don't know."

Veronica laid there, paralyzed by her emotion. She would have given anything to be able to tell him what he wanted to hear, but she couldn't, so there was nothing to do but lie down and wait for him to come to terms with his decision, whatever it may be. Her convictions always ranked above her own personal happiness and they always would. It's just the was it was.

She closed her eyes tightly and repressed the desire to weep. The room was silent, other than her rapid breathing ringing loudly in her ears. She could feel herself toeing the edge of the crevasse as she waited for the blow that would topple her into the black void.

Just as Veronica felt her foot begin to slip, she was tethered to the ground once more as Logan's hand gingerly slid into her own and interlaced their fingers together. Her eyes popped open and she turned her head toward his in wonderment. "You...you stayed," she noted, almost as a question.

"Where you go, I go," he said with a weak smile, repeating her own words back to her. "If you insist on going on this crazy suicide mission, I guess I'm riding shotgun."

One tear escaped her eye and slid onto the pillow and she smiled through her exquisite joy, the first she had felt in years. Logan was more than just her tether, he was her anchor. Who knew?

* * *

A phone rang several times in a row. Just as it seemed voicemail was about to pick up, a deep, masculine voice answered. "Wiedman."

Weevil fidgeted with the chain on his wallet. He had no idea why this guy made him so uneasy, but he knew there had to be a reason and he wasn't too eager to discover what it was. "Yeah, uh, this is Eli Navarro. Not sure if you remember me from the other day, but I was in that meeting with Keith Mars at Kane headquarters."

There was silence on the end of the end of the line and he wondered for a moment if the mysterious security chief had hung up.

"Are you the gentleman who calls himself Weevil?" Wiedman asked in a tone bathed with mirth.

Weevil smirked. "Not sure I'd call myself a gentleman, but yeah, that's me."

"Before we continue, let me ask you something that's been plaguing me all week. Why do they call you Weevil?" he asked.

"You know those little brown bugs that live in sacks of flour and rice? Those are weevils. Once you got 'em, nothing short of a nuclear explosion is gonna get rid of 'em. I'm pretty tough to get rid of too," he explained.

"I was hoping you were going to say something like that," Clarence responded with approval. "Okay. I'm going to give you two minutes of my time, starting now."

"We have a mutual acquaintance that would like some help in disappearing," Weevil informed him.

"From town?" Wiedman asked.

"From the map," he corrected. "Money isn't a problem."

"Assuming I could take care of something like this, it's not the type of thing I'd do for just anybody. There would have to be a good reason," he said.

"How about 250 G's? That a good enough reason?" Weevil asked.

Wiedman chuckled. "That's less than I spent on my Summer home, Mr. Navarro. Give me a name and I'll tell you whether you're wasting your time here."

Weevil hated being on the defensive, but it seemed like everybody was on the defensive with Jake Kane's top bitch, he doesn't seem to play it any other way. He rubbed the top of his head and decided to treat this as a learning experience. "Gory Sorokin."

"Ah," Wiedman intoned as if he had been expecting this call all along. "Don't tell me this is about the girl. If it is, then he's a bigger fool than I thought, and that's saying something."

"Yeah, it's about the girl. Can't say I blame him though, having gotten a look at her," Weevil admitted.

"You tell Mr. Sorokin I'm not in the business of performing ad hoc disappearing acts. I think he's confusing me with your little blonde friend," he sniffed.

Weevil's brow creased in confusion. "Veronica?"

"Rumor has it, she's _quite_ the expert at making people vanish," Wiedman said with a tinge of admiration.

Eli racked his brain trying to figure out what he might be referencing, who Veronica helped out of town. He didn't remember anybody dropping off the grid in the past few years. Well, nobody except for... "Puta madre. Are you telling me that Vee is responsible for getting Duncan Kane and his rugrat out of the country? Are you shitting me?"

"No, I'm not _shitting_ you, Mr. Navarro," Wiedman responded, over-enunciating each word for effect. "And I never mentioned Ms. Mars or Duncan Kane. If that's what you gleaned from this call, you have an active imagination," he added in a snippy tone.

"Okay...well, uh, just so we're clear, you're saying you can't do it?" he asked, knowing the suggestion of professional impotence might spur the former CIA spook into action.

Clarence exhaled sharply through his nose. "I never said I can't, it's more like I won't. I have one employer and he takes extremely good care of me. Only a fool would switch horses for something like this. If Mr. Sorokin wants my help, he's going to have to tell me what's in it for Mr. Kane?"

"What does Mr. Kane want?" Weevil asked as he quickly checked the time on his Tag Heuer. Gory was going to be expecting him soon and Katya had yet to emerge from the basement with her suitcase. He needed to wrap this up quickly. "Well, I'm gonna assume it's not money."

Wiedman smiled. "Glad you finally caught up, Navarro. Why don't you ask yourself, what does any man of Jake Kane's stature want? What do you get a man for who has everything?"

"Beats me. I ain't never been in that position," he said with a shrug.

"Information, _vato_. Sorokin is in the unique position of having his sticky little fingers in a number of other people's pots. He's working with you, was working with us, and yet he's also got access to Petrenko, even if he doesn't realize it yet. No telling whose side he's really on, is there?" he asked.

Weevil balked. "I just asked you to sneak his ass out of the country. I think it's clear the only side he's on is his own, no?"

"No. Rule #1: don't ever make assumptions. Gorya Sorokin likes to play with matches. I'm not in the habit of getting burned. If he's serious about playing ball, then have him give me a call himself. I don't work through middlemen," Wiedman commented snidely.

Weevil pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed silently. This guy was harder to work out than the instructions for an Ikea bunk bed. "We prefer the term liaison."

Clarence chuckled. "Of course you do. Either way, I'm sure it's not the last we'll be seeing of each other. I have some experiences dealing with weevils, and I know what pests they can be. Tell your Ukrainian friend he's got one hour."

Before Weevil had a chance to respond, the call disconnected, leaving his mind reeling.

"Fuck. Where are you, güera?" he whispered as he scrolled down his speed dial list and selected Veronica's name and hesitated, then decided to change course and selected the name Cindy MacKenzie instead.

* * *

Veronica was startled by Mac's phone vibrating on the bedside table. She reached over and grabbed it, sighing when she read the caller ID. "Weevil," she told a concerned-looking Logan.

"How did you figure it out, Weev?" Veronica asked upon answering.

"I didn't until just now when you picked up," Weevil admitted. "Mac is with you?"

"No. Not yet, anyway. Just Logan," she said cagily. "I'm putting you on speaker. Hey, you're not tracing this call are you?"

"Not yet. Look, I know your ass is lying about who's with you, but I'm not gonna touch that right now. Major shit is going down in Neptune," he told her.

"How pissed is my dad on a scale from one to ten?" she inquired.

"Let's just say you ain't gonna be getting a pony for your birthday this year, Vee." Weevil said, trying to break it to her gently.

"Drat. And I was so close this time," Veronica exclaimed with a finger snap.

"well, he's pissed for sure, but mainly he's just glad you made it out safely," he said as a smile overtook his face. "We all are."

Veronica narrowed her eyes. "You're grinning like a maniac right now, aren't you?"

Weevil laughed. "It's freakish how you do that, Vee. Yeah I'm smiling, I was worried about you - but I'm mostly happy I'm not going to have to go out and find another crazy blonde chick to buy into the PI business."

"Will the flattery never end?" she said with a sigh.

"Hey, I've got some interesting news for you," he abruptly started in.

She twisted her mouth in thought. "Interesting, like...'man marries self in June wedding'?"

"Interesting like, your Russian friend with a face made for punching is planning on skipping the country with Petrenko's daughter," Weevil responded.

Veronica was truly shocked. "I don't know whether to be more surprised that an actual female agreed to be Gory's girlfriend or that it's Petrenko's daughter."

"You'd feel that way even more if you had seen this woman," Logan told her with a raised eyebrow.

"Really? Alright, I'll bite. How hot is she?" Veronica asked.

"Even your dad was impressed," Weevil interjected.

Veronica grimaced. "Gross. I did not need that visual." She wondered how Gory managed to land such a hottie. Objectively, she could admit he was a physically attractive guy (and she'd gotten a good look, thanks to his exhibitionist tendencies when she first encountered him), it was his insides that she found repugnant. "What'd she look like? Lobotomized? Drugged beyond consciousness?"

"Tall, blonde, leggy..." Logan described.

Veronica frowned. "Sound like just your type."

Logan dropped a kiss on Veronica's collarbone. "Actually, I prefer my women short, blonde and feisty," he said, punctuating each adjective with a kiss.

"Do you now?" she cooed in response.

Weevil groaned. "Do I have to break out the fire hose or can you two keep your hands off each other long enough to finish this call?"

Logan continued kissing Veronica's neck as he tried to grab the phone out of her hand to hang it up. "She was wearing a clingy yellow dress and fuck-me heels. I thought Gory was going to blow a nut at the table," he mumbled blithely into her cleavage.

"Hate to pee on your campfire man, but that's exactly how you used to look at Veronica during lunch period senior year. You know, after she dumped your ass for Mr. Wonderbread," Weevil taunted.

Veronica gasped as the woman's description sunk in and she realized who she was. "Oh my God. Was her name Katya?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the name he was moaning while he had her pressed up against the wall," Weevil joked. "That's kind of what I needed to talk to you about. So, like I said earlier, he wants to leave the country with her."

"Wow. I had no idea she was Petrenko's daughter, but now that I do, there are some things that make a little more sense. So, why is he trying to skip town with her?"

"You ever see West Side Story?" he asked.

Veronica balked. "It's like you don't even know me. Huh. You know, Katya was the one bringing me food and stuff while I was kidnapped. She was also the reason I was able to escape, and she even gave me the key to Lilly's room so I could take her with me. Poor thing seemed kind of miserable though, and I guess I can see why now, but...Gory? Really?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants, Mars," Logan said with a shrug.

"It's like I can't escape Woody Allen," Weevil grumbled.

Veronica covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered "Wanna know what my heart wants right now, Echolls?" She waggled her eyebrows and leaned her head back as a silent invitation for Logan to start kissing her there again.

Weevil groaned in disgust. "Before the two of you start getting busy again, maybe you could let me finish my story?"

"There was more?" she asked.

"Yeah. Gory is paying me to help him get the fuck outta Dodge," he said.

"Interesting..." Veronica drawled slowly as she brushed Logan off of her and sat up. "Care to elaborate?"

"He's paying me a shitload of cash to set things up with Wiedman for him," Weevil explained. "Except the darnedest thing happened when I called the guy for help. He told me that _you _are the one I should be calling with this request. Apparently, you have mad talent smuggling people out of the country. Is this true, Vee? You holding out on me?"

Veronica's mouth dropped open in shock and her eyes searched Logan's face for help. He held his hands up, preferring to let her lie in her own poorly dug grave. She knew he was doing it just to punish her for her earlier decision to help Duncan again, and it pissed her off.

"I'm gonna choose to take that silence as a resounding si," Weevil decided aloud. "Look, I gotta run, but I'm gonna call you back. Are you gonna be on this number a while?" he asked.

Veronica pursed her lips. "Depends on whether or not you're planning on having it traced."

"You're my girl, Vee. I'd rather have a way to reach you than to run you off. Besides, if what Wiedman says is correct, it ain't like you can't just find another way to disappear if you really wanted to, right?"

"Weevil, don't breathe a word of this to my dad, okay? As far as he's concerned, I'm still MIA." she pleaded.

There was a short silence. "Yeah, alright, but just stay near the phone, chica or I might change my mind," he said before hanging up.

Veronica opened her hand bag and palmed two Xanax pills, covertly dry-swallowing them both without Logan seeing her.

* * *

Dick turned off his car's motor and looked toward Mac. "Looks like the end of the road for us, Biz-Mackie."

She smiled nervously at him then glanced at the lump in the backseat. "Who's going to carry the sleeping baby into the lobby?"

"I'm not asleep, Mac. Just trying to avoid conversation to keep the peace," Duncan said.

"You? Avoid? Never." She snorted.

"Ah, so shrews really _are_ nocturnal. I always wondered," Duncan said through gritted teeth.

Mac turned her whole body to face him and leaned in conspiratorially. "You know, everybody always told me how smart you were Duncan, but I'm just not seeing it."

He balked. "Well, you're the one playing kissy face with Dick Casablancas, so I'm not surprised you're a little slow on the uptake."

Dick's ears perked up with the sound of his name being called and he turned to look at his old friend as well. "Uh, hey man...not cool. And I told you to lay off of her."

Mac shook her hand in dismissal. "It's fine. Listen up Donut: A) Dick and I are not playing kissy face, and B) Unlike you, Dick is actually _smarter_ than he looks."

"What's your problem with me anyway, Mac?" Duncan huffed in frustration as he threw his hands in the air.

Mac tapped her finger to her chin in pretend thought. "Well, there was that one time you knocked up a friend of Veronica's and kept it on the down-low while you were dating her...and then there was that time you involved her in a felony kidnapping offense that might sideline her FBI career and could potentially land her in jail."

"What?" Dick shrieked. "Ronnie was the one who busted you out of the country?"

"That was her choice," Duncan said, looking darkly in Mac's direction.

"Well, you didn't say no! Do you think I would have let her take that kind of bullet for me? Friends don't do that. And then there's that other thing you did..." she said, looking away from him. Mac was so disgusted by Veronica's account of Duncan's actions the night of Shelly Pomeroy's party, that she couldn't even look at him while they talked about it.

Dick eyed Mac curiously and then turned back to Duncan.

"What other thing?" Duncan asked, a little less sure of himself than he'd been a minute ago.

"I'm not saying it out loud, but _you know_. I personally would have had you arrested for it, but for some inexplicable reason, Veronica happens to have a blind spot the size of Texas when it comes to you," she said bitterly.

Duncan's sparkling blue eyes lost their luster and he narrowed them at Mac ominously. "What happened that night is between Veronica and me. "

"And Cassidy," she whispered, almost to herself.

Duncan's brow furrowed. "What?"

Dick faced Mac again, this time with an intensely quizzical look on his face. He gripped her forearm like a child might cling to his mom in a grocery store. "What about Cass?" he asked her in a small voice.

"Oh God, neither of you knows," Mac said, securing both of her hands over her big _fucking_ mouth. "She's going to kill me."

"What about Cassidy?" Duncan questioned, his eyes now registering a palpable fear. "Are you...are you...insinuating what I think you are?" he asked, shaking his head as if to rid his brain of the horrible thought. He was clearly reeling from this new information and pressed both hands into the sides of his head protectively.

Mac was frozen stiff. "I can't...oh my God. Please. We need to drop this right now," she blurted out hurriedly.

"No way," Duncan said. He was practically vibrating with panic now. "Was it before or after me?"

Mac looked down at her hands in abject humiliation. How could she have let this argument get so out of hand? How could she have let something so big slip like she was discussing the weather? "Before," she whispered.

Duncan white-knuckled the sides of Dick's headrest as though he were trying to ground himself. A pained expression crossed his face and he stifled a dry heave. "Oh...God...I'm such an asshole. I didn't know. I would never have even looked at her if I thought...oh God, Veronica..."

Dick was completely lost in the conversation, but Mac could tell that he was quickly catching on. "Is somebody going to clue me in? This has to do with Cass? And Veronica? Is this about when he tried to kill her on the roof," he asked hopefully with a shaky voice.

Duncan's head looked like it was about to explode and tears pricked his eyes. "He tried to kill Veronica? I mean, I read all about the incident, but none of the websites mentioned the girl by name. I should have figured...I mean, who else but her...?"

"She was in high school. Keith wouldn't let the papers name her," Mac said, now feeling slightly bad about upsetting Duncan so much. He may be a chicken shit, but it's clear he obviously has deep feelings for her friend and wouldn't have done anything to intentionally hurt her. Selfishness and spite are two very different things that can often produce the same outcome.

"I'm...I didn't know. Jesus!" Duncan said, followed by an exhale and then he flopped backward into his seat and looked miserably out of the window into the near-vacant parking lot. "Why didn't she ever say anything? I should never have left town." He shook his head back and forth as both his hands tightened into fists.

Dick sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and cleared his throat nervously. "What did my brother do to Ronnie, Mac?" he asked in a weak but steady voice. It was obvious he knew now and was begging her with his eyes to tell him otherwise.

Mac shook her head regretfully. "I can't. I'm sorry, but I just can't talk about this. It's not my place, Dick."

He turned desperately toward the man in the back seat. "Donut?"

Duncan shook his head wordlessly, echoing her sentiment.

"Fuck this shit!" Dick cursed and ripped open the car door, slamming it angrily behind him as he stormed off into the lobby of the hotel.

Mac bit nervously on her thumb nail and wondered why his sudden departure left her feeling so torn up and empty.

She fucked up, there was no two ways about it, but there was no way to abate the damage. It wasn't her story to tell, and despite that, she definitely didn't want to be the one to break it to Dick that his brother was a rapist, in addition to being a mass murderer.

What if he asked her what she was doing there that night? Would she have to tell him what Cassidy did to her as well? How would that affect whatever the hell was happening between them?

Was something really happening between them? Did she actually want there to be?

She rubbed her forehead with her thumb and decided that for everyone involved, it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie, even if it meant taking a step back and putting an end to the madness that seemed to have gripped both Dick and her the day she kicked his ass playing The 5th Dimension on Logan's couch.

There was no way Dick would ever be able to look at her again once he knew she'd checked into The Grand that night to have sex with his brother. How was he supposed to know that it was meant to be magical for them, when all it turned out to be was tawdry? She knew deep down that Cassidy's inability to get it up for the main event probably pushed him into the tailspin that left her huddled naked on the floor in humiliation while he leapt to his death from the roof.

Objectively, she knew there was no way she was responsible for his suicide, but emotionally, the pang of guilt she felt every time his name was mentioned still stung badly. Maybe if she had been more desirable that night he would've stayed in the room with her instead of trying to kill Veronica? Perhaps if she had been more patient with him in bed he wouldn't have felt like such a failure with nothing to live for?

Of course, there were many other things at play that night, but her lack of appeal, her dearth of sexiness, had to be the rolling snowball that started the avalanche that night. How could Dick ever look at her and _not _see what a disappointment she was? He was surrounded by beautiful women every day, and she was just...Mac. She was the girl that his baby brother jumped off a roof to avoid having sex with. She was nothing.

* * *

**A/N – I know, it's really sad that Mac feels so insecure, but I always saw that night (as well as the whole relationship with Beaver) as really affecting her self-confidence. He was her 1st serious relationship and she felt so unwanted. Poor thing :(**

**I still dislike Duncan – sorry Duncan-lovers (Are there actually any of you out there? Crickets.). It's funny, because while I am a hardcore LoVe shipper, I actually totally dig reading DoVe fics (Lamb is a sexy, hostile beast!), and to a much lesser extent, can deal with WeeVer fics, but DuVe is a no-go for me. Wallace too, but for completely different reasons (Hello? he's almost her brother!). I'd much rather see a Lilly/VM pairing than DuVe. She was always the more interesting Kane sibling anyway!**

**Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter. Your reviews really do warm my cold cold heart.**


	21. Chapter 21

**BORING EXPLANATION/DISCLAIMER FOUND HERE: **

**Okay, so it turns out I was wrong about Veronica's age in the last chapter and I tweaked the line referring to it to reflect that. VM was actually 18 at the time of Beaver's suicide. I was confused, because in the USA (at least NY&FL), if your birthday is in the summer or beyond, you have to choose to either go into school later - which means your birthday is a different year than the rest of the kids (ie 1987 when everybody else is 1988) - or earlier - which means your birthday is the same year but you won't turn the same age as most kids until the next school year begins (ie – you may be 15 when you start your sophomore year in September if you have an October birthday, when most other kids already turned 16 earlier in the year). Veronica, apparently, started school late, which is actually fairly unusual. It does happen, but it's not the norm. This doesn't really affect the story much, but it was pointed out and I like to be accurate.**

**As far as when V was raped, I am positive that Beaver raped her first and then Duncan. Beaver/Dick carried her to the bedroom and Beaver was left alone with her then. Duncan walked by some time later and found her lying on the bed in the room and then went to her. Duncan sneaked out just before she woke up, so there was no way Beaver would have been able to rape her after Duncan unless he crawled into bed with them. **

**Regarding the STD, Duncan may have gotten chlamydia from her when they had sex during their senior year or he may have gotten lucky and avoided it. Veronica did not have symptoms and only found out after 'Donut Run', so we don't know if Duncan had it, because he could have been asymptomatic too when he left Neptune and had no idea he was at risk. As I said in the comments, I like to pretend he did get it, and then passed it to Kendall. LOL. Am I mean?**

**Anyway – thanks to all who pointed out the mistake! I usually work within the confines of the canon and want it to be correct, so I appreciate the heads up. Feel free to PM me if you see future errors. And now, without further adieu...**

* * *

**CHAPTER 21**

Mac walked into the lobby with leaden feet. If the five hour car ride with Duncan Kane didn't make her feel like shit, watching Dick tear out of the vehicle in a huff that she precipitated surely did.

"I'm going to go see if I can find out which room they're in," Duncan said as he surveyed the lobby for signs of his diminutive ex.

She nodded. "I'll check the bar," she said, knowing full well she would be looking for an entirely different blond than he was.

Duncan's sneakers conspicuously squeaked across the floor of the lobby and while Mac's heels clicked quietly in the opposite direction toward the world's most inauspiciously named hotel bar: 'The Hangman's Folly'.

As marble tiles transitioned into planks of rough-hewn wood, Mac's feet slowed so she could absorb the full impact of the establishment's nautical themed bar. Historical fishing paraphernalia littered the walls, which were also generously peppered with several cheesy signs written in pirate lingo. If the décor wasn't already making her feel queasy, she was sure that the smell of old fish fry oil wafting across the room was doing the trick.

The bar's few patrons were treated to Elvis softly serenading them over a cheaply constructed sound system. Mac unconsciously hummed along and found herself recalling childhood memories of her dad playing 'Blue Hawaii' on her old ghetto blaster during their frequent outings at Dog Beach. She wondered briefly if Big Dick Casablancas liked to listen to Elvis too.

In the corner of the darkened bar, under an oversized hangman's noose, she found Dick cuddled up to a bottle of tequila and a couple of shot glasses. She slowly approached and waited in vain for him to look up.

"I'd offer to buy you a drink, but it looks like you've got that handled," she noted dryly.

Dick lifted his head and peered at Mac through red-rimmed eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked with genuine curiosity, rather than the malice she was expecting.

Mac pulled out a chair and slowly sat down in it. "Take a wild guess, Dick."

He turned over one of the empty shot glasses, filled it with spirits and then slid it across the table to her. "Apparently, when I ordered a full bottle, Gargamel, tending bar over there, assumed that friends would be joining me. Guess nobody in Carmel knows how to hold their liquor," he said with a forced, half-chuckle as he shook the bottle to show Mac that it was already ¼ empty. "Not like me, at least."

Mac swallowed thickly and gamely raised her shot glass. "What are we drinking to?"

Dick's laugh was genuine this time. "Let's drink to douchebaggery. Something I'm a little bit of an expert in," he spat out before taking down the shot.

"To douchebaggery," Mac repeated, echoing his performance. The pale amber liquid burned as it went down, but she welcomed the discomfort. She deserved it.

Dick smiled sadly. "You're so cool, Mac," he said earnestly as he fidgeted with the cap of the bottle.

She steadied his hand with her own and lowered her head to look in his eyes. "What's going on with you, Dick?"

He pulled his hand away and swiped his nose with the back of it. "I know Beaver raped Ronnie, okay? I mean, I didn't at the time obviously, but I get it now."

"He also killed a lot of people. Does him raping Veronica honestly make him that much worse in your eyes?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Dick's eyes welled with tears and he let them roll down his cheeks, unashamed. "Come on," he rasped, urging her not to treat him with kid gloves.

Mac took a deep breath and poured them both another round. "I know you blame yourself because you teased him a lot about sex, but just like the bus crash, what he did that night was not your fault."

Dick rubbed his hands roughly over his face. "You don't get it Mac, this was completely my fault."

"You weren't in the room with him when he did it," she insisted defensively.

He choked back a sob and then forced another shot down his throat. "I _was _there. Kind of," he admitted.

Mac's face contorted while her stomach rocketed to the ground. She stood halfway up on legs of jelly and braced herself on the table's edge. "Are you telling me that you rap-?"

His eyes bulged. "No! God, no!" he swore. "Do you really think I'd do that?" he asked, hurt than she would even entertain the thought.

Mac's brows knitted and she sunk back down into her seat. "No. It's just, when you said you were there..."

She lifted the shot glass gingerly to her lips before changing her mind and setting it down on the table again. "So, what exactly are you saying then?" she asked, really not wanting to hear his response.

He shook his head at the bottle and pouted his lips. "Look, I know once I tell you, you're out the door, so I wanna say something to you first, okay?"

She could feel her limbs starting to go numb as all of the blood in her body rushed to her head. "Okay," she managed to peep out before her throat ran dry.

Dick seemed to be conflicted on what to do with his body, but finally settled himself forward and grabbed Mac's free hand, which caused her to hold her breath in anticipation. "I know you probably think I'm just some player or that I'm working through some weird Cassidy-based shit by creeping on you, but I actually...Mac, I really do like you. A lot."

Her lips parted as she wrestled with finding something appropriate to say, but she was at a loss for words.

"You're so cool and smart and you just don't give a shit what anybody thinks about you," he continued, flipping his hair back away from his face.

"That's not true..." she said softly.

"I'm scared you won't ever talk to me again when you find out what a huge scumbag I was that night," Dick admitted with a grimace.

Mac squeezed his hand. "You being a scumbag is not exactly a revelation," she assured him.

He laughed and played with the rings on her fingers. "I just...I guess I just want you to know that I'm not that guy anymore, okay? I mean, I know I'll never be Mother Teresa, but I'm not fucking Hitler anymore either. I'm less messed up, now that I'm on my own."

All of this intimacy was beginning to weird her out. "Not Mother Teresa. Not Hitler. Got it," she confirmed.

Spontaneously, Dick pressed his lips to the inside of Mac's wrist and it stole her breath away. It was such a simple gesture, yet it conveyed so much about him to her. Whatever he did, whatever he was in the past, he obviously regretted it, and for some strange reason, he really did care about her.

Why make him suffer more for his sins when he was already punishing himself so savagely? What would be the point?

Mac slid into the booth beside Dick and placed her hand to his cheek. "It doesn't matter okay. Whatever you did, just let it go. Alright?"

His blue eyes were wet but smiling at her now. "I can't let it go. Not yet."

She could have sworn she felt her heart seize up when he looked into her eyes. "Forgive yourself, Dick. Do it for me. If I can forgive Cassidy for everything he did, I can forgive you for much less. Just don't...don't tell me what it was that you did. I don't want to think about it every time I look at you. I don't want to have to get past stuff for us to be friends, because...I, um...I actually kind of like being your friend, and I'd really miss you if I had to ditch you."

"You still want to be my friend?" Dick asked with a grin.

She bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes from his. "If you insist..."

Mac's hand started to side down his face but he held it there beneath his own. "I _totally_ insist," he said, looking at her with unabashed adoration.

She could feel her cheeks grow hot from his gaze, and finally accepted what she had been denying since the first time Dick tried to kiss her on the beach during their freshman year: there was something between them, something unrelated to Cassidy or even Veronica and Logan.

Between the tears, the liquor, and Dick's dazzling expression drinking her in, she had to fight off the urge to throw herself into his arms and kiss him senseless. She had no idea what to do with all of these new feelings she was experiencing, but she had to figure out a way to tuck them away somewhere, because he was clearly not in his right mind at the moment.

"Okay. Consider me your home slice then," Mac declared with a wink and let a hint of a smile play across her lips as the unexpected desire percolating inside of her strained against her legendary self-control.

* * *

Duncan wandered the hallway of the 14th floor and double-checked the post-it with Veronica's room number written down on it. It had taken $200 and a sob story about a cheating wife in order to get it, but luckily for him, the front desk staff at the Carmel Cove Hotel was running low on both cash and morality.

As he approached room 414, his heart began to race. It had been six years since he'd seen her, but their sad goodbye still felt as fresh as new snow in his mind. Nobody had ever loved him the way Veronica did, or would have sacrificed for him like she did, except for maybe Lilly, but she was long gone.

He knew his parents loved him in their own way, but neither had ever provided anything more than money to help his cause. If anybody could have forced the Mannings' hand, it would have been Jake Kane. He was not exactly a man who was used to losing.

But his dad did nothing, choosing instead to push the impractical and unwanted dream of him having a successful political career, unmarred by embarrassing tales of epilepsy and murdered sisters and secret love children. Jake Kane put his weight behind what he thought would be best for his son, knowing full well Duncan would lose his daughter through the course of his inaction. For the rest of his life, Duncan would carry the burden of knowing that his parents cared more about their reputation and community standing than for the happiness of their only child.

Duncan lifted a shaky hand and knocked firmly on the door.

After what felt like an eternity, he could see the shadow of a person in the peep hole and waited impatiently for the door to swing out. Several clicks and turned locks later, the door creaked open and he could feel his heart compress.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Logan drawled as he leaned against the door jam wearing a standard issue hotel robe.

Duncan forced a smile. "Hey man. Long time no see."

Logan held the door open and waved his old friend inside.

As the door shut behind them, Duncan felt two strong arms encircle his shoulders warmly.

"Come here, man," Logan said as he pulled Duncan into a rough hug. "God, it's good to see you in one piece. Even if you can't really pull off the sunkist look that well," he teased.

Duncan's arms slowly reciprocated, but his eyes toured the room for blonde hair. "We can't all afford to get our hair highlighted by Vidal Sassoon."

"It was Sally Hershberger," Logan said as he pulled back to assess his friend. "I can't believe you got away from Petrenko on your own. Guess life on the run really has toughened you up, Donut," he remarked with a grin.

He cleared his throat. "The risk of incarceration will do that to you," he said with a shrug. "It's good to see you too." He meant it. It was great to see Logan, just not so great to see him in Veronica's hotel room, wearing a robe and probably nothing else.

"Can I get you a refreshment after your long journey?" Logan offered with a flourished gesture toward the minibar. "I believe we even have a plastic lime bottle floating around in there."

Duncan shook his head. "I really can't do anything until I've seen Lilly. Where is she?"

"Shit, of course. Sorry man, I wasn't thinking." he said as he pressed a finger to his lips and opened the adjoining room door.

Relief coursed through Duncan's body as he watched his daughter sleep. "She looks good," he whispered and smiled softly.

"She's doing well, but she was pretty zonked after the car ride," Logan explained.

"No, I won't wake her," he said as he closed the door most of the way. "So, um...where's Veronica?"

Logan's smile faltered for a moment but he quickly recovered. "She went to buy a couple of burner phones and a few disguises. Seems like old times."

Duncan nodded absently, alternating between anger and joy at seeing his former best friend in the room. "Except if this were old times, I would be the one in the bathrobe," he said, intending it as a joke.

Brown eyes hardened and turned away from him.

"You sure you won't have that drink?" Logan asked curtly. "I'm thinking it might be a good idea for both of us."

Duncan sighed and sat on the edge of the unmade bed, unsuccessfully trying to block out images of what Veronica and Logan could have been doing in it that would have pulled one corner of the mattress bare of its fitted sheet. "I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn't left," he mused, leaning his head against his folded arms.

Logan brought a bottle of beer over and nudged his shoulder with it. "Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old age a regret. Benjamin Disraeli."

He took the beer from his mercurial friend and chuckled. "You and your fucking inspirational quotes. Let me ask you something I've always wondered Logan, do they actually make you feel inspired?"

Logan took a swig of his beer and plopped beside him. "Nope, the quotes are merely subterfuge, to keep people from trying to dig deeper into my rat-trapped inferno without a guide," he said, tapping his skull. "Ronnie is what inspires me. Always has."

Duncan felt himself grow sick at the thought of his friend's devotion to their shared love. "Yeah, so I've read."

"Which one? 'Tales from Mount Olympus'? 'Ares Confidential'?" he asked with curiosity.

Duncan shook his head. "Nope. 'Royal Flush'.''

Logan smiled at the memory. "Ah yes, the book that started it all."

"What made you choose to write about her life?" Duncan wondered before taking a sip of his beer.

"I had a few ghosts left to exorcise that hadn't been shooed away by the therapist yet. I figured I'd put my expensive education to good use, it's what daddy would've wanted," he said bitterly.

Duncan's eyebrows rose with interest. "Aaron wanted you to become a writer?"

"Aaron wanted me to 'stop playing around and get serious about life'. Strong words coming from a man who played dress-up for a living," Logan snorted.

"Maybe he actually gave a shit about you for five minutes?" Duncan suggested optimistically. He wasn't sure why he was trying to humanize the monster. He was, after all, the one who paid to have him put down like a rabid dog.

Logan laughed. "No, my friend. He was shooting a movie called 'The Ivory Tower' at the time. You remember that glittering gem of an indie film, don't you? Aaron played a Liverpudlian literature professor who was madly in love with his student, a consumptive prostitute paying for her education the old fashioned way. Guess being surrounded by academia all day really inspired him...or maybe he just liked to fuck co-eds," he bit out, followed by a puff of air.

Both men grew silent as they remembered one particular co-ed whom Aaron was quite fond of.

Duncan noticed a pair of ladies underwear on the floor and his back stiffened. "Can I ask you something weird?"

Logan finished his beer and crossed the room to grab another one. "Ask away."

"Do you think...would things have been different if I'd stayed?" he asked.

"Like, would you be servicing a guy named Bubba in a maximum security prison?" Logan joked.

Duncan shivered at the thought and a shock of fear at being captured momentarily dominated his imagination. "With her, I mean."

"Are you asking me if I think Ronnie would have stayed with you if you hadn't run?" he clarified.

Duncan shrugged. "Yeah. I guess that's what I'm asking."

Logan's eyes widened for a moment in surprise at his friend's ballsy inquiry and he shook his head. "I think you already know what my answer's going to be, man. Dumb question."

"Veronica is my soul mate," he insisted sadly.

Logan ran a hand through his hair nervously and began to pace the room. "Sure. I can see why you'd jump to that conclusion, seeing how she chose_ not_ to go with you and all."

Duncan's ire began to stir. "She couldn't risk coming with me. I was wanted for kidnapping and she had to go to college. I couldn't keep her from that."

"Yeah? Well, they would have me down for two kidnapping charges, because there's no way in hell I would have ever left her behind. That's where we differ," Logan snapped, before slamming his bottle down on the counter harder than he'd intended.

"Spoken like somebody who never thinks about anybody but themselves," he retorted.

He cackled. "That's rich, coming from you."

"You'll always be my brother, Logan, but I never stopped loving Veronica. Six years ago, I fucked up both our lives, but I'm going to fix things with her. I have to. I'm sorry man, I don't want to hurt you, but I have to be with her, and that's just the way it is," Duncan admitted with a face full of determination.

A face he was sure Logan wanted to bash in, though he could tell that he wasn't like that anymore...or trying not to be, at least. The old Logan would have tackled him to the ground by now. Maybe stealing Veronica back would be slightly more difficult than he'd anticipated.

Logan leaned back against the bar smugly and let out an impressed whistle. "You don't want to hurt me? Why don't you ask Ronnie who she wants to be with, because I'm pretty sure I heard her screaming my name earlier today when she was under me. And on top," he crowed, then tipped his bottle back and downed half of it's contents in one go.

Duncan grew queasy at the description and his eyes drifted toward the unmade bed once again.

The key card activated the door lock with a loud click, and Veronica let herself in, startling both men.

"I was only able to get a few descent disguises for you baby, but unfortunately for us both, it means you're going to have to dial down the sexy, like a lot..." she chirped, making a beeline directly for Logan and pulling the knot out of his robe's sash in one fluid motion.

Suddenly exposed, Logan quickly pulled the edges of his robe together. An amused Veronica clucked her tongue with faux concern. "Logan, are you shy? You didn't seem so shy an hour ago when you- -"

Duncan cleared his throat loudly to get Veronica's attention, and she spun wildly around in panic as she reached into her gun holster.

"Hey," he uttered quietly, his heart now beating furiously in his throat.

Even with the minor tweaks to his appearance, he could tell Veronica had no difficulty recognizing her unannounced visitor. She brought a hand to her chest in relief and took a deep breath, then tilted her head with curiosity as her face lit up. "Hey, yourself."

* * *

Gory leaned against the back wall of his bank, allowing his head to smack against the rough, stucco-covered cement. He needed to wake up and stay lively, because he knew the next 24 hours were going to be the hardest of his life.

Posturing aside, Gory was no gangster. His life was designed that way from birth. Though his father made his wealth on the backs of others, he didn't want the same for his son. Being an old-school style of immigrant, he was willing to sacrifice to create a better life for his children, it was why he had resigned himself to a life of crime. He could have just made a simple life for his family as a butcher, though if pushed, he'd probably admit that he was still a butcher in some capacity.

Gory was to have no contact with the family business. He was reminded of this every day. His one slip-up, during the whole Castle debacle and the subsequent mob-ordered beating of Logan Echolls, had not been appreciated by Papa Sorokin. He wanted his son to be a legitimate businessman who could walk down the street unashamed. Unsanctioned usage of his family's manpower was not going to achieve that goal.

He tried to imagine what his Papa was going to say when he found out his son would never be walking down a street in the USA ever again, unashamed or otherwise.

Gory tore open a package of Marlboro Reds, pulled a stick from the sleeve and placed it between his lips. He wasn't a smoker, at least not more than socially, but a phone call like this called for something to calm his nerves. He brought the lighter to the tip of the tobacco and flicked the flint, then slipped the pack into his pocket and hit the call button on his waiting phone.

He tapped his bluetooth device and the sound of ringing filled his ear.

The call connected after the third ring. "Mr. Sorokin, I presume."

Gory took a deep drag off of the cigarette and exhaled slowly. He was happy to have the cigarette to slow his responses, it would keep him from bumbling through the call at a rapid pace like an amateur. "Last time I checked."

"Your little friend called me earlier. Mentioned something about you wanting to disappear," Wiedman said. "I would've appreciated it more if you'd had the courtesy to call me yourself."

Gory balked. "Yeah, uh, I was a little tied up trying to pull all of my savings out of the bank and sneak my girlfriend out of her daddy's club. You'll have to _fucking_ excuse me."

Clarence exhaled his obvious disappointment. "You get more flies with honey, Gorya."

He took another drag off of the cigarette and began to cough nervously.

"Don't you know those things can kill you?" Wiedman asked, ambiguous in what he was referring to.

"Look, I don't have a lot of time, so can we cut to the chase? What do you want from me, Wiedman?" Gory asked as he threw the cigarette to the ground and stepped on it like it was a bug.

"Jake Kane needs to find his son and convince him to come home," he answered simply. "I believe you can help us with that."

Gory's face screwed up. "How the fuck am I supposed to locate Duncan Kane when you can't?"

"I never said I couldn't," Clarence snapped at him. "And I wasn't finished."

"Sorry, man," he said earnestly as he ran a rough hand over his face. "I'm a little high strung at the moment."

"After you convince Mr. Kane to return to Neptune, you will approach Alexei Petrenko and tell him where he can be found," he continued.

"Why would I do that?" Gory asked through knitted brows. "Petrenko is going to want to kill me when he finds out I ran off with his daughter."

"Exactly. Duncan Kane will be your peace offering," Wiedman explained.

"Sounds like a pretty flimsy plan to me," he observed as he peered down the street for any sign of Weevil and Katya.

"It doesn't really matter what it sounds like to you. You just need to do it," he said curtly, ending his sentence on an extra hard consonant.

Gory pulled his remaining cigarettes from his back pocket and brushed his thumb over the word 'Red' on the label before chucking them into the nearby garbage dumpster along with the lighter. "Then you'll get us out of the country and help us vanish? You'll guarantee that?"

Clarence covered the mouthpiece of the phone for a moment and Gory could hear a muffled conversation happening in the background before he returned. "I'm a man of my word. I think you know that about me."

Gory ran his hand over his face again and exhaled his new found ease. "I just need to know...you'll get Katya out safely? I mean, even if something...even if I didn't make it. I still want her to disappear, to have a new life."

"Don't worry about Ms. Petrenko, we plan to take very good care of her," Wiedman purred into the phone. "We'll be in touch shortly," he said, then disconnected the call.

Gory stared at the phone resting in his hand and wondered if he just made the best call of his life or the worst. He shoved the questionable object into his pocket and walked to the corner to wait for his ride.

* * *

**A/N – Hope you all enjoyed reading this one (a little on the short side, but I didn't have much time) – it's my last update from the UK before going back home. Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger in 2012, but luckily the new year is only a few days away. **

**Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think with a review – you don't have to be a registered user to leave feedback. **

**Happy New Year!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hope this makes up for the shorter chapter last time!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 22**

Sitting his car with the motor idling, Clarence Wiedman disconnected his call with Gory Sorokin. No sooner had he hung up, that a text alert beeped on his phone.

Wiedman looked toward the man in the passenger seat, a 300lb Italian behemoth called Frankie, and gave him a slight nod.

Both men, clad in black, exited the vehicle and walked to the back door of the Red Room Club. As they reached the door, it mysteriously popped open.

Wiedman walked through the entrance and casually laid a thick envelope on an abandoned serving tray on one of the counters. Without warning, the internal door to the kitchen swung open, sending Wiedman and Frankie scrambling for cover.

Weevil, followed by Katya, quickly navigated the path toward the back exit. Just as Weevil was about to place his hand on the doorknob, 50,000 volts of electricity shot through his frame, sending him tumbling to the ground in a quivering mass of jello.

Katya opened her mouth to scream, but before she could utter a sound, a meaty hand pushed a cloth into her face and she quickly passed out. Frankie threw Katya's limp body over his shoulder, grabbed the handle of her suitcase and left the building.

Still conscious but unable to speak, Weevil helplessly stared up at Wiedman with contempt.

The former agent peered down at the ex-gang leader with genuine remorse. "Sorry, Navarro. It's nothing personal. We've both got jobs to do, I'm just better at mine," he said with a shrug before following his lackey out of the door.

"Fffuck yyyou," Weevil stuttered in staccato as he rolled onto his side.

* * *

Veronica stared at Duncan in disbelief. After all this time he was here, and in front of her, and it felt like he'd never even left. She'd had had dreams about this moment over the years, but she had been starting to believe it may never happen.

Besides the change in hair color and the five day stubble, he looked remarkably the same, if not slightly leaner.

Before Duncan could get another word out, Veronica leapt into his arms, knocking him to the ground.

"Woah!" he shouted as his back hit the carpeted floor.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and kissed his cheeks over and over again. "I can't believe I'm really touching Duncan Kane!" she squealed.

"That makes two of us." Logan's aside went unnoticed amongst the excitement.

"I'm going to assume you're the one who slipped me those metal things to pick the lock with," Duncan asked Veronica with a raised eyebrow.

"My underwire, if you can believe it," she admitted, pointing to her breasts.

He shook his head at her antics. "Guess I have another reason to be glad you finally outgrew those training bras you wore freshman year."

"Hey!" Veronica cried, slapping his arm. "My sports bras may have been ugly but they still didn't stop you from trying to get under them."

Logan's jaw tensed, and he let his head drop back to look at the ceiling.

Veronica perched over a laughing Duncan and cupped his face in her hands. "You look the same. You still have that million dollar face of yours. I was worried that you were going to mess it up with plastic surgery."

"Nah. I thought about it, but decided I was too vain. Besides, nobody really knows who I am in Singapore, which is where we've been living lately." Duncan sat up, letting Veronica fall into his lap, and raised his own hands to the sides of her face. "You haven't changed one bit. It's uncanny."

"Oh please," she said with a snort. "I have a few more worry lines than I used to. " She pointed them out on her forehead as she raised her eyebrows to demonstrate. "Lo?" she called out and extended her arm toward Logan to help her to her feet.

Logan looked down thoughtfully at her and grasped her arm. She could sense that he had something on his mind.

"You're being uncharacteristically quiet," Veronica commented as she returned to her feet. She tilted her head to get a better view of his eyes, knowing that no matter what he said, they would always betray the truth.

"I can't be reserved?" Logan asked with a forced smile.

"Not really. It's a rare event that passes without an unsolicited opinion on it by Logan Echolls," she explained.

Logan pretended to pout. "I thought you loved my unsolicited opinions, kitten."

She leaned against the mini-fridge and winked at him. "I said unsolicited, not unappreciated."

"Thank God for small favors," he retorted.

"I'm gone six years and the two of you are still in the middle of the same fight," Duncan observed with amusement.

Veronica noticed Logan flinch at Duncan's remark and wondered what the hell occurred before she entered the suite. She wasn't oblivious to the tense undercurrent in the room. "This isn't an argument, Duncan," she asserted with a tinge of defensiveness. She was used to people not getting her relationship with Logan, but she wasn't expecting his former best friend to be the one throwing shade.

"What it is then?" he asked sincerely.

Logan smirked. "It's foreplay, DK."

This time Duncan was the one who flinched.

Veronica hooked her finger around the loop that held the sash on Logan's robe and pulled him closer. "You didn't tell him we were back together?" she asked, tugging on his sash to get his attention. "Usually you like to gossip like an old grandma."

"I'm out of practice. Letty Navarro was off this week," Logan deadpanned with a shrug.

She rolled her eyes, but inwardly felt herself falling more in love with him. Even if she didn't think he was hot, there's no way she could have resisted him for long, not with his quick wit. Every time he matched her comment for comment, it only affirmed her believe that they were made for one another.

"Yeah, but Mac was in town. You've managed to turn her into the biggest girl while I was away," she observed.

He looked at his feet and smiled. "Well, if you believe the tabloids, I'm the expert on girls."

Veronica turned to Duncan with a quizzical look. "Where is Mac, by the way? I assume she's the one who brought you here?"

A strange expression passed over Duncan's features as if he were remembering something unpleasant. "I think she went looking for Dick."

"I hope you mean Casablancas, and not dick in general," Logan quipped.

Duncan tapped the neck of his beer against Logan's. "Nice."

"If you boys are done being infantile, I would like to know what Dick Casablancas is doing here and why Mac is looking for him?" she questioned impatiently.

Logan shifted his weight and glanced at Veronica through his peripheral vision. "That might kind of be my fault."

* * *

Mac and Dick sat at the table doing shots of espresso in lieu of tequila.

She tried to keep up, but even with non-alcoholic beverages, Dick seemed to have superhuman powers. "Do you have a hollow leg down there?" she asked.

A devilish grin appeared on Dick's face. "No, but some girls have accused me of having a third - -"

"Stopping you now," she interrupted him with a hand to the face before rolling her eyes at him.

He gently shoulder-checked her. "You know I only say shit like that because your reactions are so awesome."

Mac feigned anger. "You and your Machiavellian tactics," she grumbled.

"I have no idea what that is, but it's now your new nickname," he informed her with a smirk.

"It's not a what, it's a who," she said and then raised a hand to her chest. "And for once, I will wear one of your nicknames with pride."

"Oh Machiavelli, don't tease. Between the caffeine and the booze, my nervous system is really taking a real beating right now." Dick sighed as he clinked his tiny teacup against hers and downed another espresso.

"Well, unless you want the rest of you to take a beating from Veronica, you're gonna need to sober up quickly before we find her," Mac told him as she poured Dick a tall glass of water and wordlessly shoved it toward him.

He nodded and took a sip. "If she does beat me, I totally deserve it."

Mac could feel her stomach tensing up. "I thought we agreed you were going to drop that."

He exhaled loudly and gulped down half the glass of water. "You decided."

She felt herself growing irrationally angry. "What the hell, Dick? I don't have the energy to talk you down off of another ledge! Maybe I should just let you jump off this time..."

Dick lifted his head and looked at her with disappointment. It was then that she realized why, which instantly made her feel like the worst human being on the planet.

"Dick...you know I didn't mean...I wasn't thinking," she explained, hoping he'd know she wasn't referencing Cassidy's suicide on purpose.

"S'ok," he said quietly, as if talking only to himself. Mac strained to hear him and inched closer.

She shook her head. "No. It's not okay. It came out all wrong and I'm sorry."

He lifted his shoulders and then let them drop with resignation. "What's done is done. Can't change the facts."

She had a feeling he wasn't talking about his brother, but rather the big secret that had been haunting him for the past hour. "No, you can't change what happened. You can move on though."

"Can't," he said with a shake of his head. "Not until I do something about it, at least."

"What are you going to do?" Mac wondered aloud, her mind reeling from the possibilities.

One of the great qualities she valued in Dick was his predictability. As a computer expert, Mac had come to rely on the certitude of any outcome she inputted. The answer to every equation had a hard value, and she relied on it. She didn't like to deal with too many variables.

Having spent the last several years pondering the nature of her own existence, Mac decided that she was done with surprises. She had found comfort in knowing that she'd never be _more _surprised than when she found out she wasn't who she thought she was. It rocked her foundation and left her questioning almost every aspect of her life. Basically, it sucked, and she wasn't up for experiencing anything approaching that ever again.

Mac liked her one dimension world, (thank you very much) and wanted it to remain that way.

For instance, it made her feel safe to know that a giraffe would always be an animal with a long neck who liked to eat from trees...just as she liked knowing that Dick Casablancas would always be an animal with ripped abs whose liked to eat nachos. She may not have always appreciated his base desires, but she liked how transparent they were, which is why not knowing what was going on in his head at the moment was disconcerting her.

Mac placed a gentle hand on Dick's shoulder.

"How can I help?" she asked, before realizing that her lips were even moving. She didn't know when Dick's happiness suddenly became so important to her, but it was.

He laughed and looked at the noose hanging above them. "Do you know how to tie a knot?" he joked.

Her brows creased as panic invaded her bloodstream. "That's not funny," she declared sternly. "You can't say shit like that."

Dick's demeanor softened. "Have you ever found something out that was so big it made you, like, reevaluate everything in your life?"

Mac's eyes grew as she took in his words. Introspective Dick was actually pretty deep, and even slightly eloquent. Why the hell would he present himself like a buffoon when he was capable of all of this? "As a matter of fact...I have."

He sized her up with a determined gaze. "Nah. There's no way," he decided.

"You have no idea how badly I wish that were true, Dick," she said earnestly.

"Guess I'm not the only one with secrets, eh? Who'd of thunk it?" Dick asked, pursing his lips in thought. "Go on then, what's your big secret?"

Mac met his eyes and then looked to the ground. "It's pretty big. Not too many people know. Even my parents don't know I have this info."

He straightened in his seat and gave her his full attention. "This sounds juicy. You're not really a dude, are you?"

She stared at him blankly. "Yes Dick, I'm a dude. Surprised?"

Dick's eye-line fell to her chest and he smiled broadly. "No. Those are real. You can't fool me. I'm kind of an expert on fake tits, Mac. You should know that about me."

"I will note it in my journal," she responded.

"Come on. You can tell me," he urged sincerely. "Seems like you kind of want to."

She leaned her head on a closed fist. "Would it...would it cheer you up?"

He smiled. "I'm getting happier just thinking about it."

Mac chuckled. "God, you and Logan are such gossips."

Dick leaned his head against her shoulder and she could feel her breathing halt. "I really wouldn't open my big trap about it, you know. You can trust me."

His soft breath tickled her neck and it reminded her of when she held her brother when he was a baby. "Okay...I was..." she took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. "I was switched at birth with another baby," she confessed and quickly squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the fallout.

Dick picked his head up and investigated her with glassy eyes, as if he were looking for clues he might have missed, that would have exposed this grand secret. "Holy fuck...did not see that one coming."

Mac shrugged. "Pretty much what I was thinking when I found out."

"Ronnie told you?" he asked. "Had to have been her. That girl can dig up crap on anybody."

She nodded. "Yeah, well...it gets even weirder."

Dick whistled his impression. "Lay it on me."

Mac cleared her throat and busied herself with her empty espresso cup. "My birthday is December 16th. The girl I was switched with was born a day later than me, and she went to Neptune High with us."

His brows knit in thought as the truth finally dawned on him. "Oh shit!" he cried in epiphany and looked upon Mac with compassion. "I guess I can probably stop wondering why you hate Madison's guts, right?"

"Right," she said quietly. "Though to be fair, I would still really hate her guts, regardless. She sort of sucks. A lot."

"Come on now, Mac. She _really_ sucks a lot," Dick said with a boyish grin as he shoulder-checked her.

Mac laughed and checked him back. "Yeah, she really does."

Normally Mac would opt for a root canal over secret-swapping, but it felt oddly great to unburden herself once more.

"It was really cool that you told me that. I think I like us being friends," he admitted.

She looked at him through dark lashes. "Me too."

Dick looked at her like he wanted to say something else but instead just smiled nervously, then abruptly cupped her face with both hands and pressed his lips to hers. Completely caught off guard, Mac didn't have a chance to register the kiss before she was already engaged in it.

His hands ghosted the sides of her face and she unwittingly found herself leaning into them. His soft mouth caressed hers, softer than she thought they'd be and much more gentle. She never suspected in a million years he would be gentle, assuming he kissed like he did everything else - loudly and carelessly. She quickly found herself parting her lips and inviting his tongue inside to deepen the kiss.

Her body betrayed her, bearing the brunt of Dick's affections with enthusiasm, rather than the derision she knew she was supposed to be feeling. Why wasn't she feeling it?

His hand slipped down to Mac's neck and he stroked the side of her throat with his thumb, which sent a shiver down to her core. She audibly gasped and could feel Dick smile in triumph as he continued his advance.

"Mac..." he sighed into her mouth, as he pulled her flush against him. Her fingers snaked their way through the back of his impressive hair.

Mac could count on one hand the number of times she learned something that truly shocked her. First, there was the time she found out she was switched at birth; next, when she learned of Cassidy's suicide and horrible deeds; then, when Veronica confided in her about her rape; and now, when Dick kissed her in a sticky booth underneath an over-sized noose at The Hangman's Folly hotel bar. But the truly shocking thing wasn't that Dick actually kissed her, it was that she liked it. _Really _liked it.

* * *

Logan shut the bathroom door behind him, leaving Veronica and Duncan alone together for the first time.

She covered her smile with her hand and shook her head. "I still can't believe you're real."

He rubbed his hands over his chest. "Weird, because I feel real."

Veronica laughed and pulled Duncan down on the couch in the sitting area. "So, um...did they treat you okay? Petrenko, I mean."

He nodded. "It wasn't bad. It was a little dicey when they first snagged us, but we were barely at the club before you slipped me those wires."

She sighed her relief and then socked him in the arm really hard.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for, Veronica?" Duncan shouted through his confusion. Ever since she cut her hair during their junior year, she had been an enigma to him.

"What the hell were you doing back in the States, Duncan? Were you trying to get yourself arrested?" she asked with a frown. "Were you trying to get _me _arrested?"

"Of course not!" he yelped with affront. "I was working out an amnesty deal. I was planning on surprising you."

"A diamond bracelet is a good surprise. Having your fugitive ex-boyfriend breeze into town unannounced with the possibility of landing himself and you in jail...not so much," Veronica snapped and ran both hands through her own hair as she steadied her breathing. "I'm not saying I'm not happy you're back. Of course I'm thrilled, it's just...I deserved some kind of warning. Don't you think,_ Orion_?"

"I'm sorry, Vee. It was dumb and I should've contacted you." He bit his bottom lip and looked suitably contrite. He did feel bad for not warning her before he came home. In retrospect, it was a stupid move, but he just wanted to come to her as a free man. He wanted see her face light up when she realized all of their obstacles had been removed. It wouldn't have mattered though, because there was one obstacle present that he had no control over.

"We need to make a plan, you know," Veronica told him. "I can make you disappear again, but you need to deal with this Petrenko shit or they're just going to come after you again, or even worse, they could go after Lilly."

"Yeah," Duncan agreed before burying his head in his hands to relieve his stress. "Or you. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you."

"Or Logan. You know they tried to kill him and ended up killing the woman he was with by mistake? That was their big gambit to smoke me out of hiding," she explained.

Duncan felt sick at the thought. The idea that he have brought on the death of his old friend through his carelessness made him physically ill. He didn't want to see Logan with Veronica, but he sure as hell didn't want to see him dead.

"I didn't know...he never said..." he whispered in shock. "Was he hurt?"

Veronica placed a hand on Duncan's head and stroked his hair. "No. The assassin was like an ox, but between the two of us, we were able to bring him down."

"So...how long have you and Logan been back together?" Duncan asked.

Veronica's brow knit as she calculated the length of their relationship. "Including the kidnapping? Eight...days maybe?"

"That sounds about right," Logan piped in as he left the bathroom fully dressed. He perched himself on the arm of the couch and wrapped an arm around Veronica's slender shoulders.

Duncan laughed. "Is that a joke? I mean, from the way he was talking, I thought it was something serious."

"It is something serious, Duncan. We're moving in together," she said in a soft tone, trying to break it to him gently.

He gave her an incredulous look. "After a _week_? Are you nuts?"

"Of course we're nuts! Why else do you think we keep coming back to each other? Nobody else will have us," Veronica said with a laugh.

_I'll have you! _

"That's not a reason to move in together," Duncan griped. He looked at both Veronica and Logan like they were certifiably insane. "Why do you have to move in together so soon? What's the rush?"

"To quote Harry from 'When Harry Met Sally' - 'because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible'. Isn't that right, bobcat?" Logan asked, placing a kiss on her forehead.

Veronica pursed her lips and gave Logan the side-eye, clearly hip to his game. "Duncan doesn't want to hear about all of that," she said dismissively through a tight smile.

"He _did _ask," Logan retorted.

She raised her eyebrows at him as a challenge.

"Daddy!" a voice squawked from across the room.

Duncan's face exploded in joy as his daughter emerged from her bedroom. "Hey baby girl!"

Lilly ran across the room and leapt into her father's arms.

"I'm just going to take her to the other room," he said while cuddling his little one.

As he carried Lilly into the next room, he couldn't help but hold onto the dream of completing their family. His daughter needed a mother, and who better than Veronica? She may not have been responsible for giving Lilly life, but she did give her a new life when the Mannings threatened to keep her away from him.

In the few days Veronica cared for Lilly, she was the only mother his girl had ever known, the only woman who loved her as fiercely as she deserved. It would be the natural thing for them to be together. It's what his sister would have wanted.

* * *

As the door to the adjoining room closed, Logan turned to Veronica and sighed. "Am I being paranoid here or are you just oblivious?" he asked, before averting his eyes. He couldn't face her knowing that she'd be glaring at him with admonishment.

"You're being an idiot again," Veronica decided with a disappointed look. "It's like senior year all over again."

Logan loved Duncan Kane like a brother, and he loved that Veronica was always such a devoted friend, but he did not love Veronica being a devoted friend to Duncan Kane. He knew it was childish and made him look like an insecure fool, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd made himself a fool over Veronica Mars, and he was positive it wouldn't be the last.

"No, if this were senior year, I would be banging Kendall in the next room while pretending she was you. Then I'd recharge my battery with a buffalo burger delivered by Ratner," he explained.

"As delicious as this walk down memory lane has been for me, I can see right through all of your posturing. There are better ways of dealing with your insecurity, Logan," Veronica said sternly.

"Good thing you're not letting all that FBI profiling training go to waste," Logan chirped sarcastically as he flopped onto the bed.

She crawled halfway on top of him and buried her face into his neck, stretching all of her limbs out around him. "I think I'm going to have to get little business cards printed up that say 'I came back to Neptune for Logan Echolls' just so I can just hand you one every time you act stupid and jealous."

"Well, I'm going to have to buy you a large suitcase to carry them in then, because that's kind of my baseline with you, in case you haven't noticed," he said while slipping his hand up the front of her shirt.

"Lo—hey , we have company," Veronica gestured with her thumb toward the closed bedroom door. "In case you didn't realize."

His hand made a detour South and slipped under the waistband of her jeans. "Oh, I realized," he growled hotly into her ear, making her shiver in his arms. "Just a little more posturing on Duncan's behalf."

She tightened her expression and tried to squirm away. "Stop it, Logan."

"Make me," he murmured into her ear while his hand grazed over the thin patch of satin between her thighs.

Veronica sighed and looked at the ceiling. "Are you really doing this for his benefit or for mine?"

Guilt scratched at his gut and his hand stilled. "I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Do I really have to say what I'm about to say?" she asked.

Logan withdrew his hand from her jeans and toyed with a lock of her hair instead. "You don't have to," he said as his breathing became shallow. "It's nothing you did, just me acting like a teenager with his first girlfriend."

Intellectually, he knew Veronica loved him. She'd done everything in her power to make him feel it lately, but it would never be enough, not after a lifetime of neglect. Even if she told him 100 times a day, it wouldn't fill the hole in his heart caused by parental neglect and abuse. He would never feel worthy of love, because if his own flesh and blood couldn't find anything about him to love properly, then why on earth would she?

Veronica turned onto her side and her eyes softened. She lifted her left index finger and softly traced his features. "Have I ever told you that these are my favorite eyes in the whole world? I love how I can always tell what you're thinking when I look into them," she said and then planted a gentle kiss on each of his closed lids.

Logan could feel his body relax with every touch. He wished he didn't need the validation, the reassurance, but he did, and he probably always would.

"And this mouth is my favorite too," Veronica continued, letting her finger glide over his lips. "Besides the obvious reasons, I love your mouth because you always have something clever or romantic to say. This mouth keeps me on my toes and calls me on my bullshit, and the way it whispers my name while we're in bed makes my knees weak."

Logan groaned his desire. He often imagined his perfect day, what he would be doing and how he would feel. This blew all of that out of the water.

Veronica kissed his lips and then pulled away again. "But this brain...this demented, maddening, fascinating brain...this is my sweet spot," she declared through a grin and then left a lingering kiss on his forehead.

Logan swallowed hard and wrapped his arms tightly around her tiny waist as she cradled his head against her chest, like she had done for him in the lobby of The Sunset Regent so many years before. "I love you too, Veronica," he rasped quietly while stroking her back with his free hand. "You have no idea."

* * *

From a gap in the adjoining room door Duncan watched as all hope of a life with Veronica evaporate into thin air. What he used to have with her, what he thought he could have with her again, none of that was possible anymore. There was nothing left to grasp, she had given it all to _him_.

Duncan stepped back into his daughter's room and pulled the door closed.

* * *

Gory paced back and forth down the side of the road looking for any sign of Weevil's car. He had given up trying to be covert about 30 minutes ago and was now spinning into a conspicuous, flat panic.

He eyed the dumpster greedily and mentally kicked himself for being so shortsighted when he tossed out his cigarettes. Not only could he use the distraction right about now, he could also use something to numb the anxiety.

Thoughts of Katya being thrown into a locked room and beaten in the cellar of her father's club haunted him. If anything happened to her, it would be his fault as well as his undoing.

Like a sign from on high, Gory noticed a muffled rumbling sound approaching from behind, and turned to find his newly-hired hand at the wheel of the car.

"What the fuck, Weevil?" he shouted angrily over the loud motor.

Weevil turned to Gory and shook his head. He looked significantly more beaten down and worn out than the last time he saw him.

Gory leaned into the half-open passenger's side window and his breath hitched. "Where is she?"

Weevil reached across and unlocked the door manually. "Get in."

"Fuck you. Tell me where she is?" Gory demanded hotly.

Weevil rolled his neck and responded with a flat look.

"Fine," Gory spat angrily and wrenched open the car door. As he closed the door behind him, he noticed Weevil's hands were shaking. "What's up with those Parkinson's hands?" he asked as he pointed to the extremities in question.

"Some asshole tased me," he answered bitterly.

Gory swallowed hard and tried to fight the bile that was rising rapidly in his throat. "Who tased you?"

"Wiedman," he growled in a low voice.

"Did he...where is Katya?" Gory asked, already knowing the answer instinctively.

Weevil looked at his hands and shook his head. "He took her man. I would've stopped him, but he jumped me from behind. Before I knew what was happening, I was already on the floor and they had her halfway out the door. I'm sorry man. I really am."

Gory kicked open the door again and slammed it shut behind him with his foot. He stomped back and forth, cursing loudly in Ukrainian, until exploding into a fit of rage and slamming his left fist into the car door window, cracking it down the center.

The lovelorn Romeo slid to the ground in anguish as blood dripped down his shattered knuckles. "Jake Kane is a fucking dead man!" he hissed as he held his injured hand to his chest.

* * *

**A/N - Hey! Hope you all enjoyed this installment. I can't believe there are over 85 of you getting alerts from this story and over 30 'favs'. As Dick might say - TOTALLY AWESOME! Thank you so much!**

**Big thanks to all of those reviewers out there. Your comments really keep me motivated to write and I get a little jolt of excitement every time I get an alert that one has been left. Keep em coming, please! **


	23. Chapter 23

**One of the reviewers (fatherlessgirls) asked me if Duncan is aware that LoVe dated after he left town. In my mind, he has no idea. His communication with V would have been sparse at best, and not frivolous enough to include non-essential info. Also, it would have been kind of awkward for her to bring it up (especially via the Poseidon's Pen review section). My point is, Duncan may seem completely deluded to _us_, because we know about LoVe's long and tortured connection, but in his mind, V already chose him over Logan once – and 'true love stories never have endings'. This is why he believes they are meant to be and why he perceives her relationship with Logan as one week hook-up and not something real.**

**Just want to take a minute to apologize for the slight delay. My muse is being a bit fussy lately, so I've been kind of unfocused. Also, normally, I try to respond to every review left, but I've been so stressed trying to get this chapter done that I haven't gotten around to it. I promise I will get there, because I appreciate each and every comment you leave! Know what else I appreciate? This fic has almost 100 alerts on it! This is a new high for me, and I am stoked! Thank you!**

**Hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 23**

Keith Mars pulled a root beer and the last cold Amstel Light from the fridge and put them side by side on his kitchen counter top.

From out of nowhere, a hand reached forward and grabbed the Amstel Light off of the counter.

Keith raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the thief. "You know, you could have just told me you wanted the real beer instead of fooling me into thinking I had a shot at it."

"It's a woman's prerogative to eat her husband's food if it looks better than what she ordered. Same goes for drinks," Alicia said with a smirk as she unsuccessfully tried to wrench the top off the bottle.

"Interesting theory." Keith took the bottle from his wife's hands and popped the top off, then wordlessly handed the opened bottle back to her.

She smiled and kissed him. "See? This kind of stuff is exactly why I said yes."

He pursed his lips in thought. "Huh. And here I thought you married me for my body."

She ran her empty hand down the front of his uniform and grabbed the end of his tie. "That too." She winked and pulled him forward, then gave him another kiss. "I'll pick some more up from the store later."

Keith sighed and ran a hand through the back of Alicia's hair. "You know, there was a brief period of time after Veronica moved out, before I came to live here, that I was the lord of my manor."

Though he enjoyed his freedom to an extent, those few months of solitude were probably the worst of his life. For him, being without Veronica was like living without purpose. He had spent so many years focused on her safety and happiness that he literally didn't know what to do with himself when she left.

Keith thanks the gods every day that he ran out of coffee on that sweltering Tuesday morning nearly five years ago, because he truly believes that his chance encounter with Alicia at the local Starbucks saved his life. This was what he always thought marriage should be like. This was the marriage he deserved.

She bit her bottom lip and looked at him with empathy. "Any update about Veronica at all?"

"Not since you made Wallace sing like a canary. You know, I spent hours trying to make him crack and you did it in about 10 minutes. We should hire you to perform interrogations for us down at the station," he joked.

"I think it only works on people I've given birth to," Alicia said with an apologetic laugh. "You might want to hire your daughter though. Now _that_ is a girl who can get any man to do just about anything she wants. I'm definitely planning on taking notes next time I see her."

Keith exhaled and leaned against the fridge.

"Hey, don't do that. She's coming back when all this blows over. Wallace said she was just trying to put some distance between herself and the kidnapper," she reminded him.

"How can somebody who is so brilliant be so stupid at the same time? Sometimes I wonder if I'm being tested," he confessed, pensively. "There's no doubt in my mind that the little girl she had with her is Faith Manning. That means if she gets pulled over, she could get nabbed for a felony."

Alicia shook her head ruefully. "Why is she doing this?"

Keith shrugged. "Misguided loyalty? I don't know. Duncan Kane was always a nice enough kid, but I don't ever remember him putting his welfare on the line for my daughter."

A loud banging from the other room startled them both.

Keith's brow furrowed in concern as he pulled his gun from the holster. He signaled for his wife to stay in the kitchen, then approached his front door from the side. "Who is it?"

"It's Weevil, chief," Keith's protegee called from the other side of the door.

He looked through the peephole to confirm his identity and gasped at the sight he saw on his stoop.

The door swung open and Keith ushered his guests inside. "Go into the kitchen with him. Alicia is in there and can help fix him up," he said, grimacing at Gory's blood-stained trousers and shirt.

"I gave him a Percocet," Weevil told him as he steered his out-of-it client toward the kitchen, followed closely by the sheriff.

Gory Sorokin was a liability. This, Keith had known from the start of their involvement. The young man had neither the patience nor the self-control to do things the right way, which in Keith's eyes, made him extremely dangerous.

"Oh my God!" Alicia exclaimed as she took in the scene. "What happened to him?"

"He had a little accident with a car window," Weevil explained as he led Gory to the sink to wash off. The Ukrainian man moaned with the uncomfortable contact.

"This car window have a name?" Keith asked, his mouth forming a straight line.

Weevil shook his head with exasperation. "You're not gonna like it, sheriff."

Keith crossed his arms and leaned against the counter as he watched Alicia clean Gory's shattered knuckles off under the water. "Try me," he challenged.

"Let's just say the name Sorokin was cursing rhymes with 'pain'," he said, running a hand over his tired face.

"You look like crap, Eli," Keith said with concern.

Weevil scoffed. "Yeah. 50,000 volts of electricity will do that to you, I'm told."

Keith stood up straighter and leaned in. "You got tased? Who tased you?"

"Wiedman. Jumped me from behind. Kidnapped Gory's woman," Weevil informed him.

Keith whistled, unable to hide his begrudging admiration of his daughter's old nemesis. "Somebody likes to play fast and loose with people's loyalties."

"Yeah, he's not the only one. Between you and me, I have no idea what Sorokin's thinking right now. He's in bed with Kane, then you and with his chick gone, God knows who he's willing to turn on next?" Weevil analyzed under his breath.

"Desperation makes for unreliable bedfellows, Eli. Always remember that," he said, touching a finger to the side of his nose.

"You're preaching to the choir, man." Weevil shifted his weight and glanced over at Gory, who was currently having his hand wrapped in gauze by Alicia. "This whole thing with Kane is whack. The dude is a billionaire, what's he doing getting his hands dirty like that?"

"Good question. Maybe I should go and pay him a visit?" Keith lifted Alicia's beer to his lips, before noting his protegee looking at the brew longingly. As much as he could use the libation, he could tell his young friend needed it a little more at that moment. "Go on, Eli," he offered, tipping the bottle in his direction.

Weevil's face lit up gratefully. "No shit?"

"One condition," Keith said, holding the bottle just out of reach. "Call my daughter and ask her what the hell is going through her head right now. See if you can figure out if Duncan Kane is with her or if she's just with the kid."

"Sheriff, I..." he started, poorly feigning his ignorance.

Keith leaned back against the counter and waited patiently, his head tilted to the side in curiosity.

Eli exhaled heavily and shoved his hand into his pocket. He produced his mobile phone and pointed it in an accusatory manner at his former boss. "You and your daughter are real pieces of work. You know that, don't you?"

Keith smiled and passed Weevil the beer bottle.

* * *

Both still curled up on the bed, Veronica shoved her bare foot into Logan's lap and nudged his thigh a few times.

He looked on at her with amusement. "Why Ronnie, are you angling for a foot rub?"

She pretended to be shocked. "No. Why? Are you desperate to give me one? I wouldn't want to deprive you."

Logan lifted her leg and placed a soft kiss on the arch of her foot. "I can start there and work my way up."

The corners of her mouth turned upward and she sighed. "I wish there were time for that, puppy, but we should probably go round Mac and Dick up before he has her doing keg stands."

"Come on, Dick's matured since you've been away. I'm pretty sure he's graduated to shotgunning his beer by now. Kegs are so declasse," he mumbled as he pressed his lips to each of her toes.

Veronica snorted her laugh. "He's a regular Alistair Cooke."

"I hate that I get that reference," Logan said, biting back a smile before lifting Veronica's other foot and continuing his parody of a seduction. "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef..."

"Ooh make it a hamburger instead, because I'm starving," Veronica begged and giggled as he sucked her third toe. "You used to do this to me in college. I'd forgotten about it until now."

Logan gasped and did his best to look hurt. "You wound me, Ronnie. How could you forget?"

"Well, it's not like you had a foot fetish or anything. It wasn't a thing!" she said defensively.

"Maybe it would have been if you hadn't favored combat boots so heavily," he retorted, making a face.

She pouted her lip out. "You said you loved my combat boots."

A grin overtook Logan's face. "Only when you wore them with one of your short little skirts. You have no idea how many times I used to jerk off to that image of you in high school."

"I don't know whether to be grossed out or flattered," Veronica said, her face somewhere between a frown and a grin. "Wait a minute...were you doing all of that when you 'hated' me?"

Logan covered her body with his own and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course I was. Why do you think I hated you so much? The more pissed off you got me the more heavily you featured in my...ahem...rotation. I must've spent the entire afternoon locked in the pool house after you planted that bong in my locker. God, I wanted you. I also wanted to throttle you."

"This should disturb me way more than it does," she said, pretending to shrink away from him.

His grip around her tightened and he pushed his bulge into her core. "You're telling me you never thought about me in that way when I was torturing you?"

Veronica looked him dead in the eyes. "I always thought about you in that way, Logan. From the first day we met until right now, including that period of time when you were being a psychotic jackass." She buried her head into his shoulder and let an ironic laugh fly. "I'm pretty sure one of us is going to need therapy over this."

"We are so beyond therapy, kitten." Logan could almost smell her arousal in the air and it was driving him crazy. Even though it was a wildly inappropriate moment, and their privacy was fleeting, all he could think about was burying his face between her thighs and tasting her.

Once, in a Hearst classical Greek literature class, he'd read the tale of Cronus and how he became so paranoid about being overthrown by one of his children, that he ate each and every one of them to prevent it from happening. He wrote a paper on how the story was a modern day explanation for that strange desire parents get to affectionately 'devour' their own children.

Logan didn't have children, and the only thing he loved more than himself was Veronica. He wondered if the Cronus phenomenon applied to romantic love too, because for whatever reason, he wanted to consume every inch of her, and he wouldn't be sated until he had.

He leaned forward and took the edge of Veronica's earlobe into his mouth. "I want to eat you," he whispered into her ear.

Veronica groaned and stretched out beneath him smiling, her lips still swollen and chapped from the last time they'd made love.

He ran a warm tongue behind her ear and then bit down hard on her earlobe. She whimpered and her hips bucked up against his torso. "God Logan. Your timing is amazing as usual," she noted, glancing at the closed door between the two adjoining rooms.

"Ronnie, my penis has no concept of space and time. Besides, I haven't been able to touch you for five years," he said, his hands wandering freely. "Can you blame me?"

"But you've already had all of your soft parts against all of my soft parts several times today," she declared through gentle laughter.

"Not enough...and my parts are _not_ soft," Logan insisted, breathing into the hollow of her neck, sending a jolt of electricity to her groin.

Veronica looked worriedly at the adjoining door once more and bit her lip. "I'm surprised you haven't been arrested for public indecency yet."

"Who says I haven't?" he retorted. With that, he slipped his hand under the waistband of her jeans and rubbed her over her underwear.

"You must have been pretty busy while I was gone with this kind of appetite." She pulled herself out from under him and abruptly sat up, looking oddly unsettled. "Just how busy were you over the past five years, Logan? I mean, it doesn't matter, I'm just curious."

"If it doesn't matter, then why are you so curious?" he asked, his hands tightening into fists.

To the laymen, Veronica sounded breezy and relaxed, but he could sense the mounting anxiety beneath it that she was desperately trying to cover up. He knew this tone of hers well. It wasn't her normal interrogative voice, it was the one reserved especially for him, and especially for asking questions that she knew better than to want answers to.

Logan rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. "Just ask me what you really want to know and get it over with already. I know you're dying to find a way to sabotage things, so just pull the rip cord already."

A myriad of emotions played across her face. He could tell that she was struggling with something big, but couldn't put it into words.

Logan laughed, cursing himself internally for forgetting this aspect of their relationship. He should've guessed it would rear it's ugly head eventually. It always did.

"Are you laughing at me?" Veronica asked quietly while wrapping her arms around her waist protectively.

"No. I just stupidly assumed we'd gotten past all of this crap. Silly me," he confessed, with a broad exhale. He draped a forearm over his eyes and tried to turn the clock back with his mind.

After a minute or two of pregnant silence, he could hear the faint strain of Veronica's increasingly ragged breathing next to him. She hardly ever used to cry in front of him in the past, but the few times she had were burned into his memory and the sound was unmistakable. Lately though, it seemed to be on a loop, and her new-found fragility was breaking his heart.

Logan flipped over onto his stomach and tried to wipe her tears away with his hand.

"Don't..." she ordered, refusing to look up at him.

He ignored her plea and crouched down next to her, wiping her face clean with the edge of his shirt. "How do we always get to this point?"

Veronica shook her head and continued to look away. "I don't know."

He sighed and cupped her face in his hands to force her to look at him. "What are you so afraid of?"

She smiled tightly and worried her bottom lip. "What if we're just kidding ourselves that we can pick up where we left off five years ago? What if we're wrong for one another or if I'm not enough for you? What if we can never trust each other?"

Logan pressed his forehead against hers and continued to hold her face in his hands. "How could you think we're not right for each other? That's like, the only thing in my life I'm positive about. The sun is round and Veronica Mars is the only one for me."

She laughed through her sniffles and locked her hands over his.

"And what on Earth makes you think you're not enough for me? You're more than any sane man could or_ should _ever handle. You know that, right?" he asked.

Veronica nodded, the tip of her nose rubbing against his. "You're not such a cake walk yourself, Echolls."

"I don't know if we can pick up where we left off, but I don't want to, I think we need to start over. A few growing pains will hurt us less than being apart, don't you think?" he asked her. "Anyway, you must know by now that I'd rather be miserable with you than 'happy' with anybody else."

"You should really submit that to Hallmark," she quipped, her eyes crinkling with mirth.

Logan's hands slipped into her hair and he pressed his lips against hers. "Not sure there's such a market for masochistic love notes beyond our immediate circle of friends," he murmured into her mouth.

"Do you really think you're a masochist for being with me?" she asked sadly, her bottom lip poking out. "I mean, I know I'm not always very good at making you feel secure, but I want to. I want us to be happy."

Logan brought a sharp intake of air into his lungs and tried to process his feelings of abandonment. "I don't think...look, I'm just a little fucked up, okay? It's never going to not be that way with me, but I know you love me, as much as I can believe anybody could love a wretch like me," he said, his jovial tone belying his true mood as his eyes shifted unconsciously toward the adjoining door.

Veronica's followed his gaze and her brow creased. "I never loved him like I love you. You have to know that."

"You chose him over me enough," he whispered. "In fact, you chose him over me every chance you had, practically."

"Not every chance, and it wasn't for the reason you think," she retorted defensively. "I felt in control when I was with him. You always made me feel so much – too much, really – and I hated feeling so exposed and raw. Also, I was so insecure about how experienced you were," she said, quickly putting her hand up to stop him from interrupting. "It's not your fault. I think having such an inauspicious start to my sex life wasn't exactly a confidence booster. Duncan's expectations in that arena were just...less, and you know how I hate not being the smartest kid in the room."

Logan kissed her sweetly on the lips and then worked his way downward. "Doesn't matter how many ladies have cranked the motor, nobody has gotten it running as fast and as hard as you do, Mars."

He meant it too. He'd been with his share of experienced and talented women, but none of them got him as hot as Veronica did with just a quirk of her brow.

"Disgusting metaphor notwithstanding...you really think I'm the best?" she asked doubtfully.

He sucked on the pulse point just below her ear and she arched into him. "You could do half as much in bed and you'd still be the best I've ever been with by a mile."

Her face flushed with his revelation and she tickled his scalp. "What I'm hearing is that you're giving me permission to just lie there like a dead fish and let you do all the work from now on."

Logan slowly unbuttoned her shirt, leaving a trail of kisses in its wake. "Maybe just this once."

"Hey." Veronica grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head so she could see his eyes. "In case I don't say it enough, the sun is round and Logan Echolls is the only one for me."

He looked into her eyes and his stomach jumped at the intensity of emotion he found there. She loved him, possibly almost as much as he loved her. He could see it now. Maybe things really would work between them this time? Maybe they'd finally get that happy ending they both deserved?

Mac's phone vibrated on the table next to them, but it went unnoticed as they continued to stare each other down.

"I'm about ten seconds away from breaking this bed out from under you," Logan promised darkly.

Veronica licked her lips and narrowed her eyes seductively as her chest began to heave in anticipation. "How very telenovella of you."

"Arriba!" Logan exclaimed drolly.

* * *

Weevil tossed his phone onto the counter and towered over Gory, now seated at the kitchen table.

"She's not answering, so I left a message. How's the hand?" he asked, not quite sure why he cared.

Gory shrugged petulantly. "Doesn't matter. This one still works," he said, holding his right hand up in a tight fist.

Weevil cursed under his breath, wondering how he managed to get mixed up with a guy with more rage issues than Alec Baldwin. He could almost feel the tiny devil on his shoulder poke him in the neck with a pitchfork and laugh. _Twenty grand, ese. That's why! _

"Slow down there, gringo. Nobody ever won a fist fight while taking Percocet," he informed him with a snort. "I can think of plenty of ways you can hit Kane harder than with your fist."

Gory stared at Weevil for a long moment, almost as if he were assessing his worth. "You're right. I know you're right, but every time I think about them taking her...I just want to rip Jake Kane's throat out with my bare hands. If they hurt her in any way, so help me..."

"Hey, don't go there. They ain't gonna hurt her. If there's one thing I know about Clarence Wiedman, it's that he doesn't do anything without a reason. They're obviously using her as some sort of insurance policy, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it," Weevil explained. "She'll be fine," he asserted.

"Easy for you to say. She's not your girlfriend," Gory sniffed.

"No, but I get it. I mean, did you see me lose my shit when they snatched Vee? No, she ain't my girlfriend, but she is my girl, and if we hadn't gotten her back in one piece, you'd better believe the PCH woulda been flooded with borscht," Weevil said with an eyebrow cocked high.

Gory looked contrite for the first time since Weevil had laid eyes on him. "I fucked up. I was desperate and I didn't know where to go for help, you know? I made a lot of promises I should never have made."

Weevil sat in the chair across from Gory and narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying, man?"

"My dad doesn't want me messing around with Katya any more than hers does. I couldn't go to him for help, not after the shit that went down with Echolls, which I'm still on the ropes for, in you can believe it," he admitted, still cradling his shattered hand. "When Petrenko asked me to hire you guys for a job, I didn't know what he had planned for them. I thought it was a lifeline, you know? I thought it was my way in, and that maybe if I helped him out he'd let Katya and me be together. Pretty fucking naive, right?" he asked, then laughed bitterly. "If I handled my business like I handle my love life, I'd be picking up garbage off the side of the road in an orange jump suit."

Weevil couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, despite what an asshole he was. "Yeah man. It was stupid and selfish, and you coulda gotten Veronica killed, but like I said...I get it."

Gory nodded thoughtfully. "I was wrong about Mars. I thought she was just some know-it-all bitch from the wrong side of the tracks who needed to be knocked down a few pegs. A little bit of a miscalculation on my part," he said with a chuckle. "You know she erased my friend Dom's entire identity, got his car impounded and gave him a prison record? Who knew she was the love child of Jason Bourne and MacGuyver?"

Weevil smirked. "You have no idea. Veronica is not somebody you wanna have on your bad side. If you cross her, she will fuck you up good. That said, if you can get her on your good side, you're golden. That girl's had my back better than anybody, even when I was in the PCHers. She's something special alright."

Gory rested his injured hand on the table. "Yeah, even Katya fell in love with her. I get now why Echolls wanted to rearrange my face."

"Kicking the shit out of guys who fuck with Veronica is kind of his favorite hobby, and despite those pretty boy looks, he is one crazy motherfucker. You remember those rapes at Hearst?" he asked, polishing off the rest of the beer.

"Veronica had something to do with catching the guys, I assume?" Gory questioned.

"One of the guys she caught was an old friend of Logan's and he got pretty rough with her the night she busted him. He knocked her around, drugged her, tried to...you know," he trailed off, and watched his benefactor's eyes grow large with the recount. "The next day, Echolls jacked up a cop car, just so he could get tossed in the slammer with those guys. One dude had to have about four surgeries to reconstruct his face. Logan and Vee weren't even together at the time."

Gory exhaled his astonishment and leaned back in his chair. "That's dedication. Guess I should consider myself lucky he only fractured my eye socket?"

Weevil leaned forward and dropped his elbows on his knees. "You gotta pick a side, man, none of this back and forth shit. And don't even think about messing with my girl again or Echolls will have to wait for his turn with you behind me. You want a lifeline? I've got one in my pocket with your name on it, but you've gotta be down with us. Are you down?"

Gory tipped his chin forward to face the PI again and his jaw tensed. "Yeah, Navarro. I'm down. I'm down. Just tell me where to sign."

* * *

Veronica and Logan were engaged in an especially heated make-out session on the bed, leaving them completely oblivious to the loud vibration of Mac's phone chiming in for the second time in the past five minutes.

"When this thing is over, I'm kidnapping you to a deserted island off the coast of Hawaii and will be stealing all of your clothes," Logan informed her. "I may keep a few scarves around though, just for kicks."

"Kidnapping humor? Too soon," she tsked as she leaned her head back to allow him further access to her neck.

"You know me, I was born in the gallows," he said.

She could feel him smirking against her skin, which made it pucker with goosebumps.

The sound of somebody coughing nearby jerked them both from their moment of intimacy.

Logan held Veronica's shirt closed as she bolted upright. "Duncan! I uh...didn't see you. Have you been there long?" she rambled nervously. The disgusted expression Duncan wore on his face vaguely echoed the one he sported that awkward night when Aaron decided to throw Logan a surprise un-birthday party. Nothing like having your fledgling relationship graphically outed in front of 50 of your closest enemies as well as your first love.

"Not too long," Duncan said quietly, sheepishly averting his eyes.

Veronica felt as exposed and guilty now as she had that night, though at least her bra wasn't hanging out then. "Oh, okay," she uttered feebly as she tried to button her shirt back up without attracting too much attention.

She looked over at Logan who predictably affected his cat-who-ate-the-canary grin. "Hope we weren't too loud," Logan drawled, not even bothering to fake embarrassment or concern, then leaned back onto the pillow with his arms crossed behind his head, as carefree as ever.

Duncan barely spared his old friend a glance, clearly preferring to look only at Veronica. "Your phone was ringing," he pointed out.

Logan reached over and lifted it off the table. "Two voice messages," he announced, before tapping the speaker button and hitting play on the first one.

"_Yo, Vee! It's Weevs. Hit me back as soon as you get this. It's important."_

Veronica's brows knit. "Wonder what that's about."

"Perhaps Gory's forcing him to wear another track suit from the 'Eastern Promises' clothing line," Logan guessed insincerely.

She rolled her eyes and leaned over to press the play button on the second message.

"_My darling Ms. MacKenzie,"_ a man with a Slavic accent purred into the machine. _"I am still waiting for your answer about dining with me tomorrow night. If you say yes, I promise it won't be a night you forget easily. Don't disappoint me..."_

Veronica's mouth fell wide open. "Was that who it sounded like?"

Duncan stood frozen next to the bed. "That didn't exactly sound like a request."

"Looks like somebody's not used to taking 'nyet' for an answer," Logan mused.

Veronica scrambled out of bed and crawled along the floor looking for her shoes. "What was that bar downstairs called again, Duncan?"

He dropped to his knees to help her look for her shoes. "The Hangman's Folly."

"We've got to find Mac immediately," she told them breathlessly as she pulled on one of her newly purchased boots.

"You're not thinking of sending her out on a date with that monster, are you?" Duncan asked, a mixture of horror and disappointment seeping into his features.

Logan laughed at Duncan and followed Veronica out of the bed. "You've met her, right?" he asked, a lazy hand gesturing to his girlfriend.

* * *

**A/N – Man, this chapter really kicked my ass. This is the point in every story where the writing starts to get sluggish and a adrenaline boost is needed. I prefer mine in the form of reviews (kindly-worded concrit welcome!), so if you have the time and the inclination, please give me the push I so desperately need. I have yet to leave a story unfinished (and I won't, so don't fret), but boy oh boy could I use a metaphorical shot of vitamin B12 right now. Hope you liked it - lemme know!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello everybody! Sorry for the delay – my longest one yet since I started writing fanfic. Husband out of town, guests in town, school bus strike, and lots of other tedious stuff kept me from the keyboard, but here I am, and I don't anticipate another long (okay, well two weeks is long for me...) break. I'm rewarding all of you for your patience with a jumbo-sized chapter.**

**If you've forgotten where we left off, here's a wrap up of the the last couple of chapters: Dick found out Beaver raped Veronica and felt guilty, so he drank himself stupid and kissed Mac, Logan and Veronica worked through a few insecurity issues like mature adults this time, Duncan and little Lilly were reunited, Katya was kidnapped by CW, Keith had his beer stolen by his wife, Gory finally came clean with Weevil and asked for help getting Katya back from Jake Kane, and finally...Petrenko left a VM asking/demanding to have a dinner date with Mac. Whew! **

**As usual, I am beta-less, so please forgive any typos/errors. I will fix them as I catch them throughout the next few days.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 24**

"Oh good God!" Veronica shrieked at the sight of her best girlfriend perched halfway on Dick Casablancas' lap with her tongue in his mouth.

The feisty blonde's words barely registered as Mac struggled to break from the luxurious spell she was currently under. She could hear the angry voice and recognized it as Veronica's, but the words were no clearer than strains of the muted trombone that pipes in whenever adults speak in a Charlie Brown cartoon.

She wasn't actually processing the sound coming out of her repulsed friend's mouth any better than if she'd been listening to her underwater.

As if roughly woken from a beautiful dream, Mac abruptly pulled back, just in time to watch Dick's glazed-over eyes turn clear again. Oddly enough, he looked as remarkably alarmed as she felt, though she suspected it was for a completely different reason.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Swiftly, Veronica turned from the lovebirds and tried to flee the scene of the crime.

Logan's hands clamped down firmly on her upper arms and held her in place. "Calm down, Ronnie. It's not like you just walked in on a ritual animal sacrifice," he said sanely, his face fighting a losing battle to quell his laughter.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'd find that less traumatic?" she asked.

Mac leapt off of Dick's welcoming lap and gracelessly tumbled onto the seat next to him as a look of abject terror crossed her face.

Of course her nearest and dearest would have to bust her during her greatest moment of personal weakness. What an idiot she was to think she could just 'go with it' under the cover of anonymity. That only happens for other people – confident people with sexually adventurous spirits. People who don't give a crap about anonymity to begin with.

"It's not what it looks like!" she shouted reflexively.

_It's exactly what it looks like!_

Dick blanched at her embarrassed protestation and she was instantly overwhelmed with remorse. Too bad she was too chicken-shit to express it, or any of the other stuff going around in her mind at that moment...even if she had understood what any of it meant.

Veronica placed a hand on her hip and stared flatly at her best girlfriend. "So...then am I to assume that Dick choked on the worm at the bottom of a tequila bottle and you were kindly attempting to resuscitate him? Because other than that..."

Mac bit nervously at the tip of her index finger and fervently avoided eye contact. "Fine Bond, ya got me. I'm a dirty, dirty whore," she said, with only a hint of sarcasm. "I gots ta get it where I can," she joked, hoping to distract from the situation by using humor.

Dick's back straightened and shot Mac with a look of indignation she had no idea he was capable of...but then again, there were a lot of things Dick was capable of that she'd be unaware of until recently. For instance, she also had no idea that the man could kiss like a 1920's matinee idol.

_Oh God. I'm becoming that girl. Kill it with fire!_

"...the fuck?" he mumbled angrily as he turned from her. "Usually that kind of talk turns me on, Machiavelli, but that was just all kinds of harsh," he said in a low voice that only she could hear.

Her throat suddenly felt as dry as sandpaper and she found herself ruing her decision to wrestle the booze from Dick's hands an hour earlier. She shook her head in an ambivalent way and opened her mouth...but the words just wouldn't come, no matter how hard she willed them to appear.

"So what? You're embarrassed to be seen with me or you're just going for a joyride in the old Dickmobile? Which is it?" Dick challenged, his voice growing louder with each word.

"I...uh...uh..." she stammered, not knowing exactly how to answer this question in public. The fact was, the answer to both of those questions was yes, but there was more to what was going on than beer goggles and shameface, she just didn't know what any of it was yet.

_Oh God, why is he doing this here? Doesn't he realize I work with computers all day instead of people for a reason?_

"Dickmobile?" Veronica spat with horror, forcing Mac to shrink into herself further.

Mac could almost physically feel Dick's unreasonably positive energy wilt like an old banana next to her, but she wouldn't look at him - she couldn't – because she knew her protective facade would crumple like a wet paper bag if she did. Besides, what would she say? How was she supposed to face him when she wasn't even ready to face herself?

What does one say to the romantically inclined older brother of the guy whom you kinda-sorta lost your virginity to?

_Does being inside of me for 90 seconds before falling out flaccid count? The jury is still out on that one..._

How exactly should a person initiate a make-out postmortem discussion with the bullying sibling of the boy who (after said quasi-deflowing) stole all of your clothes as you cried in the shower, then threw himself off the top of the nearest building?

_Awkward! It's not like you're going to want to sit on his couch and thumb through old family photos. Who knew anything associated with Dick would ever be this complicated?_

"Q, Seriously? Him?" Veronica asked, her eyes clearly begging for some alternative, less disturbing explanation. "I mean...I'm sure Logan knows some nice guys he could fix you..." she stopped, letting her words trail off as she undoubtedly realized Logan's small circle of male friends included Dick, who would likely be his first choice for her. "Or maybe Duncan knows some..." she suggested weakly before interrupting herself again for obvious reasons, then finally gave up with an exasperated puff of air.

"That's my girl, America's Cupid," Logan teased, his mouth twisted into a tickled pucker.

"I hate you," Veronica said plainly, and a heated look passed between the couple.

Logan licked his lips and drank in her every move with lustful eyes. "Do you eye-fuck every guy you hate like this, or did I just get lucky?"

Veronica's lips screwed into an almost imperceptible grin. "Hmm. You still think you're getting lucky?"

She crossed her arms and dared him with a look, proving herself as committed to their little courting ritual as he was.

Duncan visibly bristled at the exchange, held his daughter tightly and miserably lowered himself into the nearest chair.

Mac observed the trio like she were watching a National Geographic special. It was fascinating to her how Veronica and Logan seemed to communicate in their own private, unspoken language as though five years hasn't passed without so much as a word between them.

She sighed at their connection and marveled at how easy it truly was to fall back into your 'native tongue' after living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Obviously, neither one of her friends ever had a real shot of moving on without the other, especially since nobody else spoke this peculiar brand of non-verbal dialect but them.

_How is it so easy for some people to give themselves over to another person, when I can barely make small talk with a guy without second guessing my own intentions? _

"Dude, we're in public," Dick reminded Logan. "You might wanna tuck your schlong back into your pants before management asks you to leave. Damn bro, sometimes you can be really embarrassing."

_Question answered._

At the blond man's outburst, Veronica leveled her laser-like focus at her now-squirming girlfriend. "You're drunk," she informed her, wishfully. "Things like this happen when you drink on an empty stomach. Remember how blotto you got at that God-awful party at the Pi Sig house freshman year?"

"I lived in the Pi Sig house," Dick reminded her.

Veronica gave Mac a knowing look. "There's a common denominator in here somewhere," she urged out of the corner of her mouth in a sing-song voice, her head tipping slightly in the surfer's direction.

Duncan cleared his throat and shifted a sleeping Lilly in his arms. "As riveting as all of this is, perhaps we should all be focusing on more pressing matters?"

Veronica shook her head at her feet and sighed. "You're right, Donut. It's annoying how you always manage to keep so level-headed and calm in the face of all that is crazy. You're like a younger, whiter Nick Fury."

"Or and older and blacker Hulkling," countered Logan.

"I choose to take both as a compliment," Duncan smirked.

Mac shot Duncan a grateful smile for diffusing the conflict, and silently thanked the universe that the software heir remained the deft politician he had always proven himself to be in high school.

She cleared her throat nervously and reached for a now cold shot of espresso languishing on the table. "He's right. I haven't seen you in a nanocentury. Now get your scrawny ass over here and give me a hug before I disable and wipe your hard drive."

"I'm not scrawny, I'm petite! And wait...was that a euphemism or an actual threat?" Veronica wondered aloud nervously as she closed the distance between them.

"Depends on the next thing out of your mouth," Mac challenged. "If it's a question or a comment about something that rhymes with lick, then you can just consider yourself 'wiped'."

Dick shook his head. "It's freaking killing me, but I'm like too mature and stuff now to be cracking jokes about going downtown."

Veronica opened her mouth to say something but Logan quickly covered it with his hand. She promptly pulled away and folded herself into her best friend's arms.

The two girls hugged tightly, rocking back and forth in their warm embrace.

"You leave town for that long again and I really will wipe out your hard drive. And your credit history. I'll give you the full Dominick Desante treatment," Mac threatened with a pout.

Dick grinned lasciviously and glanced at Logan, who was blatantly sharing the same pornographic urge. "Okay Ronnie, now run your fingers through Mac's hair and tell her she has a pretty mouth."

Mac rolled her eyes at Dick. "You wish, pervert."

"I totally wish. Nobody's denying that," he admitted while rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

Veronica glared at Dick derisively and then turned back to Mac with an apologetic grimace. "Him? Come. On."

Mac put a little distance between her and the Casablancas heir. "You're not making this easy, Dick," she said under her breath.

Dick's grin widened.

"You make a 'hard' joke and any possibility of ever seeing me naked one day vanishes," Mac hissed at him in a whisper.

Without waiting a beat, Dick's face dropped to a neutral mein.

"Are you guys going to tell her about the sketchy phone call or are we just winging it now?" Duncan asked earnestly. "I mean, I love a good penis joke as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I'm going to find them nearly as funny once I get to prison, so maybe we could...I don't know...conspire, or whatever it is that you two girls do when you're plotting your destruction."

Veronica looked at him sheepishly and shrugged her apology. "Sorry, DK. I got a little sidetracked by the freak show."

Sloughing off the insult, Dick turned to Veronica wearing a concerned expression. "What sketchy phone call?"

"Well, it appears as though a certain someone is having fantasies of throwing our girl into the back of his dogsled and dragging her off to the old gulag for an afternoon blintz," Veronica joked.

Logan gave her the side-eye.

"What? Too much?" she asked.

"Not if you're Jackie Mason," he responded honestly.

Mac's eyes widened. "You're kidding me. He actually called? For a date with _me_?!" she asked, sounding a mixture of nervous, wary and excited.

Suddenly very aware of the many pairs of yes staring at her, Mac began to freak.

_Quick! Cough a few times to distract Dick from thinking too hard about your insane outburst. _

Dick regarded her with a newly hardened gaze. "Wow. I'd reel it in a bit Ghostworld, or somebody might think you're sweet on the dude," he remarked with an uncharacteristic edge to his voice.

_Damn. Too late._

"Of course not," Mac said unconvincingly, still completely flustered.

"Well I'm sure Veronica is just thrilled. I know she was looking for a new _dude_ to set you up with..." Logan commented with glee.

Duncan snickered and fist-bumped Logan with his free hand. "Awesome."

"You guys are idiots," Veronica huffed.

"You dated them both," Mac reminded her.

"At least I'm not dating Russian Hans Gruber and crushing on..." Veronica drifted off until she locked eyes with Dick. "Would you say you're more of a Bill or a Ted?" she asked with a straight face.

"I am not doing any of those things!" Mac shouted her denial with frustration.

Dick promptly turned away from her and nursed his coffee.

_Guess I really screwed the pooch with this one?_

His rebuff effectively shamed Mac, reverberating throughout her body like a rubber bullet in a metal cage. She deserved it though. Dick Casablancas may have been many things throughout his life, but a coward was never one of them. When did she become one?

Having right then made the decision to salvage the possibility of whatever it was that was happening between the two of them, Mac covertly inched slightly closer to her secret paramour, which only prompted Dick to lean further in the opposite direction.

_Never thought of the two of us, that I would turn out to be the cad._

She closed her eyes and accepted the hit.

* * *

Mac's phone vibrated loudly through Veronica's front pocket and she froze. Her four friends stared at her anxiously as she pulled the phone from her jeans.

A quick check of the caller ID and Veronica exhaled her relief, then tapped the answer button after a slight moment of hesitation.

_Fuck._

"Dad, I can explain..." she started in, and noticed the tension in the room lighten at her greeting. She was pretty sure none of them felt prepared enough to deal with Mr. Petrenko just yet, but dealing with her father when he was pissed off wasn't exactly a carnival either.

Keith let out a shuddering breath."Talking has never been your problem, Veronica. It's all of the other stuff."

He knew her well, much to her dismay and delight. Unfortunately for her, she had long ago realized how hard it would be to get her bullshit to work on the guy who taught her how to speak.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Veronica huffed with false bravado, her hackles already in defensive mode.

"Your Jedi mind tricks won't get you out of a lecture this time," he preemptively warned. "I think we're past pretending that I don't care about your welfare."

_Crap. He's on to me._

Veronica deflated, feeling instantly disgusted with herself for the insinuation. There's no one on Earth who cared about her well-being more than the man at the other end of the line, and to suggest otherwise was not only ludicrous but insulting. She had no other choice but to play ball.

"How much do you know?" she asked, hoping to at least avoid discussing the whole little Lilly situation.

"Are you asking so you can judge how little you can get away with telling me or because you're just trying to craft a more compelling lie?" Keith asked in a playful tone.

_Busted, like my old LeBaron!_

No, she would not be walking away from this one unscathed, of that she was certain.

Veronica felt herself grow younger with each accusation. "This works a lot better when you play dumb," she said wearily.

Keith chuckled despite his disappointment in her. "I will try to remember that for next time."

"Excellent. See that you do," Veronica said crisply, hoping upon hope that her dad would get sidetracked by their banter and forget to ask about the little girl she had under her protection.

_It's a long shot, but maybe..._

"Veronica..." Keith's voice rumbled low, a sign that he was halfway to the point of explosion.

_...or maybe not._

"Argh! Fine. You and your annoying Mars tenacity," she grumbled exaggeratedly.

"It's only slightly worse than you and _your _annoying Mars tenacity, so maybe you'd like to save me the trouble of investigating my own child and spill the goods already?" the sheriff suggested impatiently.

She sighed and looked up at Duncan with a guilty expression. "Fine. Ask and ye shall receive."

"That's more like it. So darling daughter, am I right to assume that the little girl I saw on the surveillance tapes crawl into the backseat of the car with you is Faith Manning?" Keith asked.

Veronica abruptly walked off from the group and over to a private table, much to the dismay of her friends who were clearly intent on listening in.

She ran a rough hand over her face and exhaled audibly. "That assumption would be correct, though she goes by Lilly Kane now. You really wouldn't have needed my confirmation if you'd gotten a closer look at her though. The resemblance to her namesake is just...incredible. It's so strange...sometimes I feel like I'm a kid too when I look at her, like the past decade was just this really horrible dream..."

She could hear her father quietly sigh at her revelation. "It wasn't all so horrible, was it?"

There were almost too many bad things that happened to Veronica that she could keep track of, things she'd definitely rather forget, but at what cost?

If she didn't have Mac, who would have been her Q...would she have even needed a Q, had her life not changed so drastically?

Wallace understood her better than anybody, and without him nobody would have been there to tell her the hard things that she needed to hear. He made her a better person, and his mother made her father happier than she'd ever seen him.

And Logan...would they have fallen in love if Lilly had survived? She couldn't be certain, but deep down, she had to admit that the connection between them had always been there, and would always be there. Maybe they would have gravitated together in any scenario?

_We were both single when Lilly died, and for that short time before my dad's relentless inquisition started up, I felt closer to him than anybody._

Veronica glanced at her friends and smiled sadly. "No. It's wasn't all horrible. Some of it was even pretty great."

"It's perfectly natural to entertain the what-ifs on occasion honey, but you can't let your past dictate your future. As much as we want to, we can't change the past...and maybe we shouldn't want to," Keith suggested.

"Next you're going to tell me that 'everything happens for a reason'," she balked.

Keith joked in a perky voice, "You know kiddo, when life closes a door, God opens a window..."

"With my luck, there will be a hungry alligator waiting for me underneath it," Veronica said in sotto voice.

"On the bright side, when life hands you lemons, you can just make lemonade," he suggested in a flamboyant tone.

"What do you do when life gives you a long-ass scar on the back of your neck and a failed career in federal enforcement?" she asked somewhat seriously, before she could stop herself.

_Oops. Not exactly the direction I planned to take this little confab. My neurosis seems to be working overtime finding new ways to leak out and embarrass me. Wish the rational-thinking part of my brain worked half as hard._

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

Veronica swallowed thickly and switched the phone to her other ear. "Dad, I - -"

"Is Duncan with you too?" Keith asked, abruptly continuing his line of questioning from earlier.

Her breath caught at the speed of his subject switch, but she was grateful her dad had the intelligence to push the eject button before she fell deeper down her emotional rabbit hole.

_How does he always know exactly what I need?_

She nodded, forgetting her couldn't see her through the phone. "Yeah. The gang's all here."

Keith sighed. "What the hell were you thinking, honey?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I was thinking that she's a seven year old girl who deserves to remain living with the only parent she's ever known?" she retorted matter-of-factly.

"Spare me the diatribe, Veronica. You work for the FBI. He's a criminal. You know better," he chastised. "This isn't high school anymore. If you get caught, you'll go to jail. Why don't you ask yourself if he's worth throwing your life away over?"

_Been there, done that, so...no._

Veronica bit her bottom lip and glanced over at Logan, who was animatedly telling a funny story to their enraptured group of friends.

_If I went to jail or got myself killed, he'd never recover._

"No. He's not," she said quietly, but before her father could chime in with an 'I told you so', she spoke up again. "But she is. Lilly is worth it. Besides, I made a promise to a dying friend to keep her out of the hands of her nutjob grandparents, and I intend to follow through with it. I'm not letting another little girl get hurt by the people who are supposed to be taking care of her. Not again."

Keith let out a ragged exhale. "I know you feel a loyalty to the little girl because of Meg, but Meg wouldn't want her daughter living like this," he insisted.

"You don't even know how they're living," she rebutted. "Duncan happens to be an amazing father."

Keith paused, and she could practically hear him thinking through the telephone. "Look, at the end of the day, this isn't your child. She's Duncan's kid, and he isn't your husband," he explained slowly, praying she would see things his way for once. "You don't...are you still in love with him?"

Veronica let out a soft laugh. "No. I think Logan would probably object to that a little bit."

"I never in a million years thought I'd say this, but thank God you're in love with Logan Echolls instead," Keith joked.

"What are you talking about? It was practically your mantra my senior year," she teased.

A sudden silence fell over them and the heaviness rolled in once again and settled between them.

"You're not going to stop," Keith informed, more than asked her.

_Sorry, daddy. I'm so sorry._

"I wouldn't be your daughter if I gave up, now would I?" Veronica said, barely able to hold her ground under the weight of her father's crushing disappointment.

"God dammit," Keith hissed to himself, though his phone was sensitive enough to pick it up.

She hated disappointing him. He was probably the only person in the entire world whose opinion of her she held dear, but she couldn't abandon another girl to an abusive family. Not after the last one. Whatever it took, she would save Lilly's life.

"Look, I'm on my way to something important, but some things have gone down here that you need to know about," he warned. "Call Eli."

"Like what?" she wondered. "He's okay, isn't he?"

"He's fine, but call him before you do anything. Promise me you won't go off half-cocked without speaking to him," Keith insisted.

"Yeah, okay. I promise," Veronica agreed almost breathlessly.

"Just...if you need help, you'll ask for it, right?" he prodded.

_You've got to be kidding me, I'd sooner eat my own hair._

She took a deep breath and dropped her head back in exhaustion. "I can't promise that. You're the sheriff. I already messed that up for you once, and I won't ruin your life again."

Keith sniffed once and cleared his throat. "Losing _you_ would ruin my life, way more than anything else could. Just remember, I'm the guy who walked through fire for you...and I'd do it again, if I had to."

Tears welled in Veronica's eyes and she stifled a sob, forcing it down before her dad had a chance to notice. Her father's love for her humbled her, and the thought of letting him down or leaving him childless petrified her.

The trouble was, there was another father whose love humbled her as well, and he was willing to give up everything for his daughter too. How could she not help him?

_Please don't hate me..._

"I love you, daddy," she said quickly before hanging up the phone.

* * *

Keith watched Mac's number fade from his screen as the call was unceremoniously terminated and clenched his jaw in frustration. He loved his daughter more than anything on this planet, but she was easily the most infuriating person he knew.

He slipped the phone into his front pants pocket and straightened his tie, then cranked open the door of his Crown Vic before slamming it angrily behind him.

Already standing against the passenger's side door was a tense-looking Leo.

"Thanks for waiting outside, deputy," he nodded.

Leo shrugged. "No problem, sheriff. I know how she can be. Is she doing okay?"

Keith smiled and turned his palms up. "She's like a cat, fortunately for me, though I haven't been keeping such great track of how many lives she's used up already."

Leo laughed heartily at the comparison. "Maybe she earned a few extra lives, you know, with all the near scrapes she's gotten herself out of?"

"Are you suggesting that my daughter is like a video game character?" Keith asked with an amused grin.

"Maybe a little...kind of like Lara Croft," the younger man suggested.

Keith shook his head in confusion. "Yeah, I'm an Atari guy, so you're gonna have to speak my lingo in order for me to get the reference."

"Ms. Pacman?" Leo offered.

The sheriff nodded. "That'll work. Though I'm pretty positive Veronica would rather turn herself over to Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde than walk around wearing a giant red bow on her head."

Both men looked ahead at the charcoal-colored gravel filling the long, curved driveway ahead of them with apprehension.

"This place is creepy. I feel like those Pacman ghosts could be waiting for us right around that bend," Leo remarked.

"There are ghosts lurking up there for sure, just not the kind you think," Keith said with weathered irony.

They passed the large stone mailbox at the foot of the driveway with the name_ 'KANE'_ emblazoned on the front of it. Keith gave it a passing glance, then steeled his resolve and walked on.

* * *

Veronica dropped her face into her hands and her body shook as she let out a long breath.

"Hey," a voice called out from above her.

Veronica knew who it was before he'd even spoken. She looked up into the warmest pair of eyes she'd ever known and tried her best to put on a brave face. "Hola."

Logan slid into the booth next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Tough chat?"

Veronica rolled her eyes and burrowed into his side.

_I could die happy in this spot._

"Just remember this: no matter how bad it gets, your relationship with your dad will always be a million times better than mine ever was with Aaron," he said, and kissed the top of her head.

She let out a small puff of laughter. "Oedipus had a better relationship with his dad than you did."

"Oh, I don't know, I've still got my baby browns," he said, pointing at his eyes with his index and middle fingers. "More than I can say for old no-eyes," he joked with mock irritation.

Veronica leaned into him and felt the edges of her mouth turn down. Logan never had a parent love him as much as she or little Lilly did, and it made her irrationally sad.

_If I could fill the void, I would._

"I love you," she told him as she cupped his face gently. She knew she didn't say it enough the last time around, but she swore to herself that she would say it as often as she could remember to, even though it made her feel more exposed than that dream she had where she showed up to school with no clothes on.

_Wait a minute...that actually happened, though I wasn't naked until mid-day when those alpha bitches stole my clothes and stuffed them in the toilet._

Logan gifted her with that special smile that always made her weak in the knees, and kissed her until she had to pull away for air. "Hmm...I could get used to this," he murmured, pressing their foreheads together.

"Good," she said decisively. "Because you have no choice."

"Does that mean you're calling off this insane mission of yours and coming home with me?" he asked hopefully.

_Shit. And everything was finally going so well, too._

She leaned back to look at him, her brow knitted with worry.

"Fuck," he mumbled, echoing her own thought, as his face crumpled into a mask of disappointment. "Remember my little speech at AlternaProm? When I said 'lives ruined', I wasn't talking about _ours_, bobcat." He slammed his hand on the table with resign and pursed his lips, as he usually did to stop himself from saying something he'd regret. "I knew you'd do this."

Veronica's eyes shifted to the floor. "Why did you ask me when you already knew the answer, then?"

Logan shrugged and leaned his back against the sticky pleather booth. "I don't know. I guess I thought you might choose me this time. Stupid, right?"

Blonde hair whipped angrily against her neck as she climbed on his lap to face him. "This isn't about Duncan, it's about Lilly. You didn't see what I saw at the Mannings' house. Meg, herself, was petrified at the possibility of having her child raised there."

He nodded solemnly. "I know, and I want to help Lilly, but when is it going to stop? Is she the last?"

"I don't know!" Veronica shouted. "How many times do we have to have the same argument? This is what I do."

Logan sighed and ran his thumb across her cheek. "Look, I want a life with you – a _real_ life with kids and a house and bad pot roast dinners and broken lawn mowers."

"I want that too," she whispered introspectively, not knowing if she was even capable. "Though I'm fairly certain you're not going anywhere near a lawnmower in this lifetime."

He twirled a lock of his own hair around a finger and smiled. "True. We'll just hire Weevil then."

Veronica gave him a sharp look and playfully jabbed him in the ribs. "Jackass."

Logan laughed and brushed her hair out of her eyes before becoming serious again. "Ronnie, we can't have any of those things if you don't slow down and stop putting yourself in so much danger." He raised his hand before she could interject. "Before you launch into one of your tired 'I am what I am' Popeye speeches, I'm not trying to change who you are, I just want a lull occasionally. Even in the roughest waters, surfers always catch a spell of calm water at some point."

_Why does he always have to be so right?_

"I mean, are you happy?" he asked, pinning her open like a school dissection frog with his gaze, as if it were his life's mission to explore her insides to determine what made her tick.

She paused for a moment and then covered his mouth with her own. "I wasn't before, but I am now," she breathed out in-between kisses.

His hand ran up the back of her shirt to caress the bare skin under her bra-line and she sank into his touch. "Promise me," he insisted, pressing his tongue lightly to the ridge of her ear, promptly stealing her ability to speak.

"Huh?" she muttered incoherently.

"After this, it's just us, okay? No more danger for a while. Let's just be happy for the first time in our adult lives. Do you think you can let that happen?" he asked as he kissed his way down the curve of her neck to the hollow.

Veronica smiled more broadly with each kiss. "You play dirty. You know I can't say no to anything when you're kissing me like this."

Logan pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "Then say yes."

_God, yes!_

"After we save Lilly?" she confirmed, not willing to give up on her dead best friend's tiny clone. "I need to go back to Neptune with Duncan and settle this."

He nodded, though she could tell it was with reservations. "After Lilly...though I'll admit I'm not thrilled about the Duncan part of it, but I'll learn to deal with it."

Veronica shrugged. "Then...I suppose I might be able to work something out with a little more convincing."

"Say yes," Logan demanded, refusing to let her wiggle her way out of their deal later on with semantics.

She cleared her throat and tried to control the palpitations threatening to burst through her rib cage. This was it, her moment of truth. Logan desperately needed security, sacrifice and love, all of the things he had given to her over and over again throughout the years. Could she really give him back what he wanted this time?

"Yes," she uttered in the smallest voice, which was all she could muster.

Logan's eyes lit up and he dug his fingers into the back of her hair. "You're really saying yes?"

Veronica nodded. "I really am. Yes."

_Holy shit! I actually want to do this!_

"Okay then," he said calmly, barely able to restrain his enthusiasm and relief, then laced his fingers through hers and tipped his head forward against her chest. "Thank God."

She felt his arms encircle her waist tightly, and for once, she didn't check the room for the nearest exit.

* * *

**A/N – so this chapter was a BITCH(!) to write. No joke. I hope it wasn't as clunky as it sounded in my head when I read it. Please keep those amazing comments coming. Not only do I love hearing from all of you (guests reviews too!), but they are daily reminders in my in-box, telling me to get my butt onto the computer to type. Your support is invaluable (and this is not just sucking up, I totally mean it).**

**Action is happening next chapter, so hang on to your hats...**


	25. Chapter 25

**See? I told you I wouldn't make you wait long! Not as big as the last, but much faster.**

**Special thanks to silverlining2k6 for giving this chapter the quick once over for typos and continuity errors. You are the best xox**

* * *

**CHAPTER 25**

In an idling car at the foot of the Kanes' long driveway sat Weevil and Gory, who were waiting impatiently.

"There's no way she's here, hombre," Gory said, wincing as he tried to flex the fingers on his injured hand. "Why would Kane have her brought to his own house? It's too obvious."

Weevil's grasp on the steering wheel tightened. "In my experience, only fools and juries ever rule out the obvious."

_No doubt you've seen a lot of juries..._

"Yes, well...I think it's a waste of time, and time is not exactly a luxury for me. I've been fielding calls from my uncle all afternoon, and my dad's not happy." Gory leaned his forehead against the window and swallowed hard. "He can be as pissed off as he wants after I get Katya back. Until then, guess I'll be trying to avoid the wrath of two angry fathers."

"Too many fathers has never been my problem. Pissed or not," the PI admitted with a shrug. "In fact, the only pissed off dad I've had to deal with personally is Jake Kane."

_What the what?_

Gory leaned back and turned a stunned face toward his employee. "_This_ Jake Kane?"

Weevil balked. "No, the Jake Kane who lives down the street," he deadpanned. "Yeah, this Jake Kane."

_Bullshit!_

If a full-body smirk were possible, that would be what Gory was experiencing at that moment. "What did you do? Rob him?"

Weevil's jaw tightened and he rolled his neck. "What? You just assume that I was stealing something, because I'm brown?"

_What the hell else kind of business would somebody like you have with somebody like him?_

"No. I assumed you were stealing something, because you used to be a gang banger. How dare I? Please pardon my faux-pas," he said insincerely. "So what was it? Did you do him dirty in a transcontinental joint-investment? Screw him out of his cut of an Arabian horse sale? Well?"

Weevil shifted in his seat and cursed in Spanish under his breath. "Fine. I stole something, okay? That wasn't why he was pissed, though, it was the reason I broke into his house that got him angry."

_Surprise surprise._

"Go on then, wow me," Gory challenged, gesturing with his good hand.

"They caught me in his daughter's bedroom, stealing back my grandma's engagement ring," he confessed quietly, still clearly affected by the memory.

Gory's mood shifted from irritable to somber in a flash. "Are you talking about Lilly Kane?"

Weevil nodded. "We went to high school together. We had something."

_You were in love with Lilly Kane?! How deluded were you that you thought she'd actually marry you?_

"Aren't you, like ten years older than she was?" he asked with a skeptical brow.

Weevil bit the side of his cheek angrily. "Ha-fucking-ha. So I flunked a few times. At the end of the day, I'll be going home to my girlfriend. Can you say the same?"

_For some reason, I like this guy, despite the big mouth. Maybe because of it?_

Gory smiled his amusement. "Okay, you got a shot in. Mazel tov."

Weevil lifted his chin in a reverse nod.

_Hold the phone..._

Something clicked into place behind Gory's eyes. "So, you were fucking Echoll's girl? While he was dating her?"

Weevil shrugged his answer.

A huge grin spread across Gory's face. "Oh man, I would have paid top dollar to see his face when he found out about it."

The Latino looked at the ground pensively. "He was an even bigger asshole back then...but he's okay now, I guess. Why do you hate him so much? You get shot down by Vee or something?"

_I dropped trou and she ran in the opposite direction. Does that count?_

"Well, kicking the shit out of somebody in front of a room filled with his classmates does not exactly engendering friendly feelings. And no, I never took a swing at Veronica, though I'm not saying I wouldn't stick it to her if I wasn't with Katya. I mean come on, right?" he asked. "Have you ever hit it?"

_Why does he look like I just took a leak on his shoes?_

"Uh..no, man. I mean, fine, sure, she's hot or whatever, but I've never touched her. She's like family," he said with horror.

Gory tensed and released his good hand as he watched for signs of Keith from the car window. "So what happened with Jake Kane?"

"He had me arrested, wanted to put my ass in jail," he said. "It woulda happened too, if Vee didn't give me one of her famous 'get out of jail free' cards."

_That girl is always one step ahead, huh?_

"I'm almost afraid to ask..." Gory mumbled.

"Then don't. It's better you don't know, okay?" Weevil looked at him with a hard expression. "Those Kanes are heartless, except when it comes to their own. They'd do anything to protect their kids...well, Duncan at least. Guess they weren't so bothered about Lilly..."

Gory released a bitter laugh. "Maybe if I can get my hands on this Duncan, they'll return Katya to me?"

Weevil's lips parted as though he were about to speak, but the words never came. "Hold that thought," he said and pulled out his cell phone.

* * *

Logan entered the hotel room to find Veronica bent over a bag from Target, sorting through clothes. She was wearing a grey hoodie layered over a ribbed tank top with a short jean skirt and boots that went to the mid-calf. Basically, she was in his high school fantasy drag.

He approached her from behind and slid his hands around her waist under her shirt.

"Only a truly evil bitch would dress like this before leaving me alone for a whole day," he drawled in a low voice as he pressed himself into her backside. "You can't honestly think I'm gonna let you out of this room before bending you over something and making you pay for that."

She squealed uncomfortably and pulled away from Logan as if he were on fire, then backed up against the wall.

"Oh my God!" Logan shrieked upon realizing that he'd just molested Mac in a blonde wig. "What are you doing in here dressed like Veronica? Is this some kind of Single White Female bullshit or are the two of you on a quest to see how badly you can mind-fuck me in the shortest possible period of time?"

_Did I really just get a boner from dry-humping Mac's ass? She's like my sister! Scratch that, feeling up Trina from behind would be less disturbing than this._

Mac tried valiantly to hold in her laughter and failed miserably. "I'm pretty sure it was under 15 seconds, but if you want me to check, I can always bend over and get my watch out of that bag," she offered teasingly, as she pointed to the Target bag.

Logan's hands dug into his hair and pulled hard, as if there were a possibility of pulling the memory of what just occurred from his mind. He opened his mouth to say something, then winced and turned toward the wall. He couldn't make eye contact, it was too gross.

"Logan, come on, don't be embarrassed. I know it was _hard_ to tell who I was from _behind. _You shouldn't_ hold it against _me," Mac said with a shrug.

He flipped around to face her, then buried his face in his hands. He felt so irrationally pissed off that he didn't know what to do with himself. "This is the road you're going down with me, Mac? I would seriously think twice about it, because I do not mess around when it comes to payback," he threatened.

"You sure looked like you were messing around with her a few minutes ago," a voice called from the bathroom entrance.

Logan turned to find Veronica, wearing a dark wig, a pair of green cargo pants and a clingy, red, weathered t-shirt with the words '_Radio Free Europe_' scrawled across the front in Soviet font.

_Holy crap, she looks hot dressed like Mac. What the hell does this mean? I feel dirty!_

"You're dressed like her now?" he asked in disbelief. "You're both four feet tall and weigh 100 pounds between you, you've switched clothes and hair, but I'm the idiot for confusing you?"

"Logan..." Veronica clucked with empathy through her laughter. "Don't be like that..."

He shook his head and leveled an index finger at each of them. "Fuck you both," he said decisively and turned to leave.

_Must. Leave. Now. Get out before either of them notices your boner!_

"It kind of seems like you want to," Veronica called after him and threw an arm over her partner-in-crime's shoulder. "He's so sensitive."

Mac stifled a guffaw. "He didn't feel that sensitive against my a..."

_Oh God! Get out now! _

Logan stormed out of the suite, slamming the door shut behind him, and then leaned against it wearily.

_Where can I take a 'Silkwood' shower this time of night?_

* * *

Mac's phone traveled across the top of the hotel dresser through the force of its own vibration.

"Veronica! It's the phone!" Mac shouted across the suite as she lifted the iPhone to look at the caller ID. "It's Weevil."

"Ooh. I need to talk to him, click answer!" Veronica screamed as she hopscotched over random items of clothing, strewn across the floor.

"You don't 'click' to answer on an iPhone, Bond, you swipe. Jeez. Have I taught you nothing?" Mac groaned as she passed the phone to her friend with an eyeroll.

Veronica wedged the phone into the crook of her neck. "Why are my ears burning?"

* * *

On the other side of the door, Logan rubbed both hands roughly over his face a few times and expelled his disturbance with a shudder.

"What are you doing hanging out in the hallway?" Duncan asked as he approached the door of the adjoining suite. "Veronica kick you out already?"

Logan raised an eyebrow at his old friend. "Did you know about this?" he asked, pointing to the room.

_Was this guy ever really my friend? I can barely remember._

Duncan held his hands aloft. "I'm too scared to go in there. Those ladies frighten me when they're together alone."

Logan slid down the wall to the floor and pulled his knees up. "I'm pretty sure they're witches."

Duncan joined his friend on the floor, then pulled a flask of whiskey from his hip pocket and angled it at him.

_Huh. I forgot how well he can read my moods._

The taller man nodded and accepted the peace offering, taking a moment to nod the flask in cheers before taking a swig. "I went in there and saw Veronica leaning over something, so I did what any guy would do..."

"You pretended to hump her from behind?" Duncan asked clinically.

Logan presented his friend with his hands. "Thank you!"

"So, what? She got pissed?" he asked, grabbing the flask back and taking a sip.

_Great. Romeo should have a blast with this one. Please, allow me to provide more fodder for your pursuit of my woman._

Logan slammed the back of his head against the wall lightly. "It wasn't Veronica."

Duncan nearly did a spit take and started laughing.

"Not you too," Logan grumbled, slamming his head a bit harder this time. "Go on. Yuk it up."

After calming himself down, Duncan drew another finger of whiskey from the flask and cleared his throat. "Was it Mac?"

Logan nodded his head with embarrassment.

Duncan vibrated with silent laughter, apparently recreating the scene in his mind. "Was Ronnie mad?"

He shook his head. "Pretty sure this was the highlight of her evening."

Duncan lost it again.

"Maybe I should dress like Mac and see how she likes it?" Logan mumbled incoherently to himself.

"Not sure how that would punish her, but..." Blue eyes widened with epiphany. "Hey, didn't your dad do a movie where he dressed in drag?"

"I believe you're thinking of the film '_Nuts'._" Logan nodded, and chuckled at the memory. He opened his hand and spread it across the air in front of them. "It took place at the turn of the century. Aaron was a Sicilian cattle hand running from the Cosa Nostra. He ended up boarding a steam ship bound for America. Using his inexplicably perfect working-knowledge of the English language, he hitched his way across the country only to find refuge at a house of ill-fame in the Old West. Of course, you had to be female to work at the Burlesque, so with the help of a sexy ½ Navajo squaw, he passed as a lady of the evening whilst performing eight shows a week for a boorish group of miners who had designs on him."

At this point, Duncan was bent over sideways in laughter, trying desperately not to spill his flask. "My mom loved that one. She thought he looked hot at the end when he strapped on his chaps," he relayed, his good mood quickly dying at the mention of Celeste.

_Does he know his mom's sick? Has anybody even told him yet?_

Logan tugged at the sleeves of his shirt nervously and shrugged. "He got what he deserved."

His friend rumpled his dyed blond hair and tipped his head to look him in the eyes. "Do you really believe that?"

_Yes. Hell. Yes._

Logan's eyes closed and he sighed, his face settling into a soft smile that was more sad than joyful. "He took away two of the best things that ever happened to me, so yeah, he got what he deserved. If I ever ran into the guy who put a bullet into his head, I'd probably want to shake his hand."

A strange expression crossed Duncan's face and he took a long swig from the flask. "Okay then," he said followed by a deep breath, and then the man whom Logan once considered his brother extended his right hand to him.

_What the fuck?_

Logan looked down at Duncan's hand as if it were radioactive. "Is this a fucking joke?" he asked and then swallowed thickly. Though he hated his father more than he thought possible, and would never have begrudged any of the Kanes for exacting vengeance on Lilly's killer, having the reality laid out in front of him like that was an entirely different animal.

"It's not a joke," Duncan confessed quietly. "I didn't pull the trigger, but I hired the guy who did."

_Jesus Christ. Who is this guy and what has be done with Duncan Kane?_

Logan exhaled a long, shuddering breath and stared at the hand in front of him. "Did he suffer?"

"He never saw it coming," Duncan said flatly.

Logan nodded to himself as he processed the information and then abruptly took Duncan's hand in his, and gave it a firm shake. "Thank you," he said, not sure if he was thanking him for slaying his dragon or avenging his lover's murderer.

If he were honest, he might have even been thanking him for showing mercy by dispatching his father painlessly. Whatever the reason, he was thankful, because he knew deep down that he could have never been happy with Aaron's large, dark shadow forever looming over him.

Duncan smiled boyishly, in that way that always used to make 'Ronnie 1.0' blush from head to toe. Logan hadn't seen him smile that authentically since before all of their lives went to hell - or even earlier - since the day before he'd broken up with Veronica.

_Hello brother, I thought I'd never see you again._

"It's good to have you back, DK," Logan said with emotion. Independently of what was happening with his girlfriend, he hadn't had a friend like Duncan since their first rift.

Though Dick was practically family, and was a hell of a lot smarter and deeper than most people were aware, he still wasn't exactly on Logan's wavelength.

At one time, Logan believed he and Duncan were cut from the same cloth. Brothers from another mother.

_Maybe that explains why we're both in love with the same woman?_

"It's good to be back," Duncan responded warmly. "Well...it _will_ be good to be back once I can be me again...if they let me, that is," he said, dropping his head against the wall to look at the ceiling. "I just want my life back, you know? I mean, I don't even know what that is anymore, or if anybody I used to know would notice or care, but I have to find out."

_I care. She does too, but I will beat you senseless before I let you anywhere near her in that way. Your ship has sailed, man._

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind," Logan quoted helpfully as he turned his head toward his buddy.

Duncan smirked. "Is that Dr. Seuss?"

_Man, I fucking missed you!_

Logan smiled brightly.

* * *

Veronica and Mac stared at themselves side-by-side in the mirror.

"I think you look hot, Vee," Veronica told Mac very seriously.

Mac smiled. "You too, are quite the fox, Ms. MacKenzie."

"Do you think if somebody walked in right now we'd be embarrassed?" Veronica asked. "We probably should be."

Mac shrugged. "I'm always half-embarrassed, but I'm pretty certain that you, my friend, are shameless."

"I can't believe my boyfriend tried to mount you," Veronica chuckled as she straightened her wig.

Mac laughed at the memory. "You know as well as I do that he'll mount anything with a descent ass and blonde hair."

_Anything? Thanks for reminding me of my recurrent high school nightmare. _

Veronica's brow furrowed and Mac quickly stepped in. "Hey, you know I'm kidding, right? He's basically as obsessed with you as I am with Siri."

"That sounds really unhealthy," she remarked, and played with the ends of her brown wig for distraction. "I'm talking about Siri, of course."

Mac sighed. "Should I just spread some mustard on my feet and shove them both in my mouth now instead of bit by bit? I'm zero for two so far in the saying-the-right-thing department. I'm sure if I go for the trifecta, I can probably even make you cry."

_Sadly, it wouldn't be the first time today...or even the second. _

Veronica waved her hand in the air dismissively. "I'm just being a girl. Ignore it as you would a fender-bender."

"Nobody ignores a fender-bender, Bond, that's what screws up the daily commute," the faux-blonde reminded her. "Come on, what's the delio? I think I can stand to girl-talk with you for a few minutes, as long as we do something totally butch afterward to rid ourselves of the 09er she-viper stench."

"Like a Madison Sinclair palate-cleanser?" Veronica questioned.

"You said it, not me," Mac responded with a stoney face. "So just spill already. I don't have enough people-skills to coax it out of you the old fashioned way."

Veronica's mouth hung open. "Ooh. What's the 'old fashioned way'? Will it lower my purity test score?"

"Logan is rubbing off on you," Mac said while pulling a face. "And for the record, the 'old fashioned way' is booze and jibber-jabber. But mostly booze."

"Oh. I think I'll save us some time and money and just tell you then. I'm a little freaked out, because Logan wants me to stop being me for a while," Veronica explained.

Mac raised a doubtful brow. "Makes sense, since he totally hates everything about you."

_Okay fine! I may be over-exaggerating just a tad._

"Fine. I mean, he wants me to stop putting myself at risk," she clarified. "He wants us to spend some time together in a normal environment. Plus, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy now."

Mac laughed hard and zipped her hoodie. "We all think you're crazy."

"No Mac, I mean actually crazy - in the real way. He thinks I have PTSD," Veronica disclosed.

"Well, I'd tell you to consider his suggestion, but it probably wouldn't make much of a difference," Mac guessed, as she played with strings on her hood, pulling them back and forth through the holes.

_God, she can't even look at me when she says that. Does everybody think I'm nuts now? _

"What? You don't think I can do it?" Veronica asked defensively.

"No, I don't think you _want_ to do it," she said. "Oh yeah, and I also don't think you can do it."

_Neither do I._

"Ye of little faith..." Veronica spoke to her friend's reflection in the mirror.

Mac turned Veronica by the shoulders to look at her directly. "You're telling me you're honestly willing to stop all of the cloak and dagger crap?"

She shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, I was pretty miserable as a federal agent and it wouldn't be forever, just until I can convince Logan I don't have 'the yips'."

"Okay, but you fucking live for snooping," Mac informed her. "You don't see that look in your eyes when you get a lead...it's almost orgasmic. It's like me during that sweet moment I crack through a security system."

"So you don't think I should do it?" Veronica asked.

_Please say no!_

"What did you tell Logan?" Mac retorted.

_ARGH! Foiled!_

"I told him I would," she said sheepishly.

Mac drew her lips together smugly. "And do you not think he has your best interests at heart or something?"

_Oh, that._

"Point taken." Veronica crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Now...speaking of having one's best interests at heart..."

Mac shook her head and left the bathroom. "Not going there. This is _your_ girl talk, not mine."

"You really don't want to talk about hat happened down there, Q?" Veronica asked hopefully.

"Honestly, no. Not with you," she said plainly.

Veronica gasped in offense. "Why not? I just spilled my guts to you!"

Mac sat on the edge of the bed. "Do I really have to say it?"

She threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Fine. Do I approve of you diddling Dick Casablancas? No, I don't. And I have my reasons, but don't ask me what they are if you're really serious about him, because you won't be able to look at him the same way."

"Well, I'm definitely not curious about it now," Mac grumbled and ran her hand through her hair, forgetting it was a wig and pulling it off-kilter. "Anyway, he _sort of_ told me, well, alluded to it anyway."

Veronica's eyes hardened. "He told you...and you still want to date him?"

She shook her head. "He told me that he did something horrible to you that night you were raped, and that he regrets it. He even cried about it downstairs earlier tonight."

_Excuse me? _

"Huh? He cried about something that happened nearly a decade ago tonight? Why?" Veronica asked, unable to fathom what could have prompted this.

"Apparently, he was unaware that Cass, that his brother did what he...that he raped you. He didn't know until tonight, and something about learning that set him off," she confided.

Veronica felt her mouth run dry as she recalled tiny snippets of memories, scattered like beads across the floor of her mind. "He never knew?" she asked in disbelief and sank down next to her friend on the bed. "I figured Logan told him that night Dick had the breakdown."

Mac frowned. "Logan would never do something like that, knowing how hard Dick would take it - and what breakdown?"

"You didn't notice a shift in Dick's behavior freshman year?" she asked while she lifted the stray clothes from the floor and stuffed them in a bag.

Mac's head rolled back and her eyes followed. "Oh my God. That day at the beach, you know, when he tried to kiss me? That was after it, right?"

_Bingo! _

Veronica touched her own nose.

"Well, for what it's worth, Dick was completely blindsided when I mentioned it. I'm sorry about that, by the way, I thought they knew," Mac admitted.

"They?" Veronica groaned. "Duncan, too?"

Mac covered her face with her hands. "It was a rough ride over here. I got into it with Duncan, and we started arguing. I sort of insinuated he was a rapist and then mentioned something off-hand about Cassidy, and that's when the shit hit the fan."

A realization crossed her face and she settled into it. "Dick didn't know. All this time, I thought he was laughing about it, laughing at me."

_If he was that upset about it, maybe he's not truly evil? Perhaps, he was just simply a bully who liked to harass his baby brother about his lack of sexual prowess? Maybe he's more Al Bundy than Ted Bundy? At least that would explain Logan's friendship with him... _

"Laughing about it? No. The look on his face when he found out what happened...he was gutted, Bond. I've never seen him like that. He kept saying what an asshole he was and acted like he deserved to be drawn and quartered for whatever he did to you," Mac elaborated.

"He does," Veronica said quietly and scratched under her brown wig. She sat for a moment and digested the information. "But what he did...I mean, it was bad and I'll never forget it, but he was just a 16 year old kid at the time, and from a lousy home. If he's as sorry as you say he is, I can't imagine he's the same guy he was back then."

Mac smiled. "Are you saying you approve now?"

Veronica sighed. "I want you to be happy. If for some, bizarre, insane reason, Dick Casablancas makes you...happy," she said with a grimace, "...then I guess I can look the other way. We'll just have to institute some kind of 'Don't ask/Don't tell' policy."

"Can that policy be extended to Logan as well? If I never hear him offer to 'bend me over' something again, it will be too soon," Mac griped as she pressed the heel of her palm into her forehead.

_Hello!_

"What else did he say he was going to do to you?" Veronica asked, trying to play it off as general curiosity, but clearly turned on. "He really likes it when I wear boots."

Mac stood up and shook herself off. "Yuck. What part of 'Don't tell' do you find so confusing? I'll be in the hallway dry-heaving if you need me," she said, running to the door as fast as she could.

Veronica lifted Mac's phone from the dresser, scrolled down to Weevil's name and began to type out a text message '_Villa Kane in T-7 hrs. B there or B sqR'._

* * *

**A/N - For those of you who don't know what the 'yips' are, it's when you over-think something so much that you can't do it anymore (ie – if you're normally great at basketball but get your confidence spooked and then can no longer shoot a basket well at all).**

**Hope you liked this chapter – can't wait to see what you think. Hugs and gratitude to all who have put this fic on alert and in their favs, and 'big ups' to all of you who have taken the time to leave a review. I love each and every one of them. THANK YOU!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey everybody! I'm trying to churn out these chapters quickly to finish up, but I think I may be losing you all, because the reviews/page hits have slowed down a bit. Am I posting too quickly for people to catch up? I'm still a little new to the fanfic world and haven't perfected the formula for pacing my multi-chapter stories yet. Lemme know.**

**PS – as always, I'm beta-less, so please forgive the little typos and slip-ups you might find, they will be fixed this week.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 26**

Logan cracked open the door to his hotel suite and shoved his hand inside, while clutching a white napkin that he waved feebly.

The sound of Veronica's rolling laughter alerted him to her notice.

"Come on in then, make it snappy," Veronica called out in a 'girl Friday' voice, straight out of a 1940's newsroom.

Logan slipped through the door and leaned aggressively against the closet door. "Speaking of snappy, Mac sure ran out of here fast enough. By the time she passed by I could only see the her from behind and I almost followed," he said, resigned to the ridicule that he knew would soon follow.

Veronica threw her head back and laughed. "I'm sorry we keep confusing your poor little brain." She ran a finger over his forehead and pursed her lips as a mother would.

_No you're not, but that's kind of why I love you._

"Yes, well...I wasn't exactly thinking with my brain," he said as he sidled up to her and grabbed her hands. "Not the one up here, anyway." He pulled her close and pushed himself against her.

"I believe there was some talk of bending somebody over something?" she said with a studied casualness.

_Forget the other thing. THIS is why I love you._

Logan grinned and pressed his nose to hers. "That's when you were you. Now that you're Mac..."

Veronica pulled back with a look of consternation. "So you're saying that you were willing to have sex with Mac dressed as me, but not me dressed as Mac?"

"That's right," he answered.

"I don't know which of us should be more offended," she said.

Logan cleared his throat. "Let me clarify...having sex with Mac would be like doing my sister. Having sex with you dressed as Mac would make me think of my sister while we were doing it, thus tainting the Veronica/Logan lovemaking experience."

"_Lovemaking_? Did Barry White just enter the suite without me noticing?" Veronica asked with amusement as she looked over Logan's shoulder at the door. "Do you break out the vintage sexy-talk with all your conquests or am I special?"

"Come on. You must know by now that don't want to be with anybody else," he said, gently scolding her.

_How could she possibly think anybody else could hold a candle to her? Practically every guy she meets wants to bring her home to their mama._

Veronica smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. "Sure, you say that now...but in 20 years, when I'm fat and saggy..."

He shook his head from side to side. "You couldn't get fat if you tried, and I've seen you try. Anyway, if you did, I wouldn't care."

She laughed her disbelief. "Oh, you'd care."

Logan fruitlessly tried to image Veronica letting herself go to pot, but the only images he could conjure were of chubby Midwestern soccer moms waiting on line to buy churros at Knott's Berry Farm. He quickly relented. "Okay, I'd care, but I'd still only want you."

"Why would you stick with your fat, saggy girlfriend when there are so many other, more bangable blondes out there?" Veronica posed the question aloud as though it were rhetorical.

He wondered what he had ever done to make her think she wasn't enough for him. He never cheated on her. In fact, he barely even notices other women whenever she's in the room.

_I wrote a fucking book series about you! It's been five years and I've never been able to move on. What part of unhealthily fascinated by you don't you get? _

Could it be the parade of women he slept with to numb the pain after Lilly died that was spooking her? Maybe she misinterpreted the speed in which he moved on from their many breakups as him actually 'moving on'? If she could see past her own insecurities and her lack of faith in him, she might recognize those liaisons for what they were: desperate bids to distract him from the gaping black hole residing on her side of the bed. A hole he was sure would suck him into it's vast emptiness if it remained unplugged for too long.

"For starters, I sincerely hope you won't be my girlfriend 20 years from now," Logan admitted as though it were an obvious conclusion.

Veronica shot him a puzzled look.

"I meant _just _my girlfriend..." he clarified.

_I want to marry you!_

Veronica's eyes widened with realization and she suddenly became fascinated with the hem of her t-shirt. "Oh."

"What? You don't believe I want to spend the rest of the century by your side, shriveling up like raisins until we simultaneously kick the bucket wrapped up in each other's withered arms?" Logan asked, dipping his head down to meet her eyes.

"You make marriage sound so appealing," she snorted.

"Everything I do is appealing, bobcat," he bragged, then brushed a strand of dark hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You don't believe I'd gladly give up every other woman in the world forever to be with only you?"

He watched her jaw twitch with tension and ran his fingers down the sides of her face to force it to relax.

"I believe you believe it," Veronica said honestly.

"Okay, so what I'm getting from this is that either I'm a cad who can't keep it in my pants, or you don't think my feelings for you are serious. Both are untrue. And by the way, thanks for the vote of confidence," Logan said tightly with a wink.

"You forgot the 3rd option," she piped in quietly, as she continued fingering the edge of her shirt. "Maybe I'm just worried I can't keep your interest in that department over the long haul. I mean, you've been with so many girls."

_...aaand there it is again. I knew my whoring around would catch up to me one way or another. I guess I dodged an STD and a 'love child', so something had to be waiting in the pipeline to clog my drain. Everybody has to pay the piper sometime, though if I had a choice, I would have gone with 'The Clap' instead of this._

Logan could feel a knot forming in the center of his stomach. "There haven't been as many girls as you think, they were just all over a short period of time, so it seems worse than it is. You forget how pathologically monogamous I am. Anyway, those other girls were just screws. You're the only one I've ever really made love to."

"There you go with the Barry White talk again." Veronica said and pretended to cringe into herself.

"Girl, if only I could make you see, and make you understand. Girl, your love for me is all I need, and more than I can stand..." Logan serenaded her in a deep voice.

She buried her face in her hands and tipped forward onto his chest. "I'd throw my underwear at you, but I'm not wearing any right now."

_Are you trying to kill me?_

Logan could feel his pants tighten at the thought. "Huh. If I didn't desperately want to marry you before, I sure as hell do..." He could feel her mouth drop open in shock against his chest and he immediately cut himself off. Logan imagined his throat beginning to atrophy in protest.

_Fuck._

A pregnant silence hung in the air and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Chatty though he may be, there was no way in hell he would be the first to speak this time.

"You want us to get married?" Veronica asked nervously. "Won't a wedding ring put a mondo crimp in your game?"

"Probably not. Whores tend not to pay too much attention to things like wedding bands." Logan blew out a puff of air before deciding to spill his guts. He may as well put it all out there, because it wasn't like she couldn't read him like a book anyway. "Maybe I hoped that if I – to quote the great relationship sage, Beyonce - 'put a ring on it', you wouldn't leave me again," he confessed in a slow, steady voice.

"Right. Because a ring really helped my mom stick around. This isn't 'The Hobbit', Logan. A wedding ring isn't imbued with magical powers. It's not a talisman," Veronica said, her light tone a stark contrast to her stinging words.

"Maybe not," he murmured with a shrug. "But I need all the help I can get when it comes to you," he told her and pulled away to sit on the edge of the bed.

Veronica's face softened and she sank down onto his lap. "You think I'm going to leave you."

He shrugged again. "It wouldn't be unheard of."

"Look at me," she demanded, cupping his face before tipping his head up to look at her. "You're the first...you're the last...you're everything..." she sang enthusiastically in her deepest Barry White facsimile.

Veronica pulled off her brown wig and threw it on the bed, revealing two messy, blonde pigtails beneath it's surface.

"Hello again, Veronica. Nice to see you again," Logan growled like the Big Bad Wolf as he leveled a predatory gaze at her and leaned in for a kiss.

The 'woman formerly known as Mac' held him off with one hand and tugged out a brown elastic band from one of her pigtails with the other. She then wrapped it around Logan's ring finger. "There you go, my precious. One ring to rule them all."

Logan looked down at the makeshift ring on his left hand and swallowed thickly. "You Hobbits really need to work on your taste level," he said with pretend disappointment before tugging out the other hair elastic and wrapping it around Veronica's ring finger. "I'll have to do something about that one day."

He could hear Veronica's breath catch in her throat at the implication. "Well, now that that's out of the way..."

Logan noticed the corners of her mouth start to turn up and he felt the urge to press his own mouth against it until they both stopped breathing. An impish spark flashed in her eyes and she gave him a sly, contended smile. "...who does a girl have to fuck to get fucked around here?" she asked innocently as her hand flopped gently on top of his zipper.

_God, help me. Was there ever any doubt?_

* * *

Still in Veronica drag, Mac walked speedily toward her friend's Saturn with a bag in tow.

Sulking on a bench just outside of the hotel lobby entrance while nursing a bottle of water, Dick rose as he noticed the blonde pass quickly by.

_This is your shot, man. _

"Hey wait up!" he shouted urgently and jogged to catch up with her. Mac slowed her walking at the sound of his voice, and his long legs quickly closed the distance between them.

_This is D-day, homes! Okay, maybe an exaggeration, but it's a holiday named after you, dude, so don't fucking blow it._

Dick could feel a rush of nerves hit him like a big surf careening into the boneyard. He knew he had to man up though. Anything could happen when the girls went back to Neptune, and he couldn't let her leave without coming clean. "Don't turn around. I have to tell you something before you go, and its easier to, like, lay it all out there if I don't have to do it face to face."

Mac ignored his instruction and promptly turned around, revealing her true identity to him, then dropped her bag on the floor next to her feet.

"Hey, I thought I said don't turn around," Dick grumbled through a frown.

She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side. "Didn't you think I was Veronica? I was trying to save you from embarrassing yourself...if that's even possible."

He looked at her as though she were crazy. "You think I don't know what your ass looks like, Mac? Believe me, I've stared at it enough to know it from a mile away."

_I even stared at it when you were dating Beav. Needed to make sure it was worthy of being tapped, Casablancas-style. Beaver may have been a total virgin, but he was still my baby bro. Shit. He wasn't a virgin, was he?_

"Oh," she said under her breath and worried her bottom lip. Watching her entire body flush hot gave him the confidence to continue.

_I wonder what her skin feels like under that awesomely-thin tank top. _

"I mean, hello? Don't you remember 'grade my ass'? I'm kind of an expert on all things badonk," Dick informed her and flipped his hair off his face so he could see her, unencumbered.

Mac kneaded her hands together and looked into his eyes. "Your input was invaluable with that project, Dick, but – like childbirth – sometimes the brain chooses to block out things that are too unsettling to remember. Like, for instance, if a boy one likes can read girl's asses like a road map from a mile away."

"Not just any girl's ass Mackie, mainly yours," Dick admitted with a boyish shrug, and grinned hard at her mounting discomfort. He leaned over and tickled the underside of her chin. "You look cute with blonde hair, but I like you better when you're looking more Ghostworldy."

From the way she was fiddling with the string on her hoodie, he could tell that she was struggling to keep her composure. "You do?" she rasped inquisitively.

Dick licked the salt air from his lips and nodded, never breaking eye contact.

Mac fought back a telling smile. "Funny, and see...I always figured you thought I looked weird in high school."

"Oh, I totally did. But, you know, weird's not so bad when there's a hot chick underneath it," he explained. "Plus, you know, it kind of fits you."

She tipped her head back and looked at the stars for a moment. "Am I in an 80's film? I wouldn't want you to lose that bet with the quarterback. For the record, I clean up nice, so our 'shocking appearance' together at prom should prove suitably spectacular."

He threw his head back and laughed.

_Man, she's such a smart ass and I'm totally into it. I've never been with a chick like her before. The girls I usually bring home are a half-step up from being with a blow-up doll. Never thought I'd be into the smart type. Guess I can see now why Logan's always so twisted up about Ronnie. Smart chicks are kinda sexy. _

"You know the dorky chick always ends up with the popular guy in those," Dick informed her and inched himself slightly closer.

"Yeah, but only after she runs off from the dance in tears over a stupid misunderstanding, and he chases after her to declare his feelings in a cheesy, cliche-filled monologue" Mac added.

He looked around the parking lot and raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure I chased your fine ass out here."

"That, you did," she said solemnly. "So...where's my cheesy monologue then?" she asked, her hands perched on her hips, forcing her shoulders back.

Dick took a moment to admire her breasts which were thrust forward.

Mac let out a strangled groan of disgust and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're a pig."

"Yep," he agreed, without argument.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I think I like you better when you're bombed," she admitted.

Dick took another step closer and could hear her breathing hitch at his advance. "No. I think you just like me – period."

_Oh yeah. This is fucking happening._

Watching her squirm gave Dick the most deliciously warm feeling all over. Back in the day, she would just roll her eyes when he spoke or cut him down with an offhanded insult. Sometimes, she didn't even bother looking in his direction while she was busting his balls. For some reason, her slights always burned the most.

To see her writhing in her own skin, pink with embarrassment, was a huge step up from that. He was affecting her. He could see it and so could she. Like catching a cruncher that nobody else had the cajones to ride, he'd shredded the shit out of her indifference through his sheer force of will.

Mac returned his shrug. "I don't hate you...not anymore, at least."

_Bonzai!_

Dick stared at her for a moment to ponder the implication of her response, then inched himself forward until his Tevas hit the toe of her boots. "I'll take it!" he said enthusiastically.

Mac nodded a little too long. "Okay then."

She looked at Dick like she was trying to guess his weight, then spontaneously launched herself at him, nearly knocking them both over. Dick's empty water bottle clattered to the ground.

_Fuck! Was not expecting this._

"Woah! I'm digging the aggro, babe, but you gotta let me get my surf legs on, then you can climb me like a mountain goat," he purred in her face as he slid his hands beneath her ass and pulled her roughly up to his waist. "In fact, I highly recommend it."

_Damn! The feisty ones always know how to keep you on your toes._

Mac gasped and then locked her ankles around his middle as he guided her to sit on the trunk of the Saturn. "This...is...so...weird."

Dick smirked and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I like weird, Mac, but you probably know that about me by now."

He let his lips ghost her cheek as he dragged them toward her mouth and she sighed.

_I could get used to that noise._

"Oh...that's good," Mac mumbled incoherently and pressed herself against him. The crimson color on her chest deepened, and she closed her eyes at Dick's proximity. "I'm, uh, sorry about the way I acted before. In the Hangman. I was just, you know...it was sudden."

He smiled against her mouth. "I don't care about before. I'm a right now kind of guy."

Big blue eyes flicked open to meet his gaze and his heart nearly stopped. "Well then, Dick," she smiled and twisted her mouth into a seductive bow. "If you don't kiss me _right now,_ I think I'm going to pass out on the back of this Saturn."

His eyes grew wide with happy surprise and he leaned her back against the rear windshield, then crashed his mouth into hers, slowly caressing her tongue with his own.

Mac's hands clawed up the back of his broad shoulders and clung tightly as his snaked under her wig and fisted the chocolate-colored hair beneath.

* * *

"I'm going to start carrying around a spray bottle with water in it," Veronica groused, leaning into Logan's side as she took in the sight of their best friends getting it on again.

"Oh, let the kids have their fun," Logan told her, smiling brightly at the odd couple on the back of his girlfriend's car. "Besides, I think Dick left some presents for you in the trunk as a peace offering."

"I think a car wash is in order, then." She clamored onto his bicep and buried her face in his armpit. "I hope you're proud of yourself. This is kind of your fault. Now, I'm going to have to hear details of Dick's technique the entire ride home."

_Looks like I'll be riding with the windows down._

Logan ran a hand down the back of her wig. "Better that, then listening to Prince Charming spout his sweet nothings in your ear."

Veronica pulled Logan down to her level by the front of his shirt. "Prince Charming? Sweet nothings? Psh! Who likes those? I much prefer listening to the Jackass of Hearts murmur snarky nothings into my ear."

"You do?" he asked enthusiastically, hand over his heart. "I happen to specialize in snarky nothings."

_Specialize? You're like the Grandmaster Flash of sarcasm._

"Well, it's lucky we found each other then," she said, pulling him down for a goodbye kiss.

Duncan passed Logan and Veronica without turning his head and went straight for the couple on the trunk of the car. He lifted Dick's empty water bottle from the ground and pegged it at the back of his head to get his attention. "Can somebody please tell me how we ended up under the bleachers during a Pirates football game?"

"Damn, DK! Can't you see I'm busy here?" Dick complained and his tongue quickly made its way back to the hollow of Mac's neck. "Cockblocker," he mumbled angrily into her damp skin.

"Sorry dude, time's up. Lilly's asleep in the room and we can't leave her alone, so one of you has to go up to watch her," he said, finally looking at Logan from a safe distance.

_Crap. I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. I just got him back!_

Veronica could feel her eyes misting up and focused hard on not crying.

_I'm crying more lately than a pregnant woman watching a Hallmark commercial. This has got to stop or I'm going to end up losing my street cred._

"I'll go," Logan offered, then tugged Veronica to his mouth again for a soft peck. "Remember: there's no crying in corporate espionage," he whispered in her ear, before twirling them both in a circle and kissing her soundly.

After a moment, Duncan cleared his throat to get their attention. "She's seven, guys. Somebody has to go up there."

Logan lifted his hand to signal he'd be another minute. "Do not bring the crazy to this operation."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You're not supposed to tell a crazy person that they're crazy to their face, Logan. It's rude."

_Awesome. I knew he thought I was a head case._

"I'm serious, kitten. No heroic measures. Just get in and get out," he advised.

"I will do what needs to be done and nothing more," she informed him tartly.

He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. "You have somebody waiting at home for you now, so don't do anything reckless please, because I find it really impossible cooking for one. I always end up with too much food."

_Home. I have no idea where that is, but I know it's with him._

Veronica threw her arms around Logan's neck. "As long as you realize that once we are safe at home in your Shantytown shack or Skid Row sublet or wherever the hell we live...you won't be cooking for two. It will be more like three, and I'm just talking about my portion of the food."

Logan let out a dramatic sigh of exasperation. "I like how you tell me this _after _you conned me into promising to love you even when you're fat," he joked as he flashed her his elastic ring. "Ah well, more to love."

"In that case, I'm going to get magnificently fat." She smiled beatifically, kissing him one last time. "Now get inside and take good care of the kids while I go to work," she said, finishing with a loud slap on the ass.

Logan smirked at Veronica and then looked over at Dick, who was still engrossed in his make-out session with Mac. "Come on, kid!"

Duncan's deeply concerned expression caught Logan's attention. "Take good care of my little girl, will you? She's all I have."

"Come on. You know I have a weakness for blonde girls named Lilly Kane. I'll protect her with my life," Logan promised. "Hey, I'll look out for your girl and you look out for mine. But I'm warning you, she's a troublemaker, that one," he smiled fondly as he pointed at an animated Veronica.

Duncan looked away and shuffled his feet at Logan's request. "I know and I will," he said and then wrenched open the passenger's side door and fell boneless against the soft fabric of the bucket seat.

_What the hell just happened over there?_

Mac rumpled Dick's hair and pushed him off of her. "Go on. We'll pick this up later."

Dick stole one last kiss and followed Logan toward the hotel lobby. "Never forget me!" he shouted dramatically at top volume with both hands stretched into the air.

"If were I could, Dick. If were I could..." Veronica mumbled as she watched Logan's form retreat with a sense of loss.

She tossed her bag to Mac in the back seat, and took her place at the wheel of the Saturn. "Where to, Miss Daisy?" she asked her forlorn ex-boyfriend as she fastened her seat-belt.

Duncan cleared his throat and ran two shaky hands down the length of his thighs. "Home."

* * *

The dawn light was breaking over the endless Royal Palms lining the road as Veronica pulled her car onto the cobbled street where the new Kane mansion resided.

Duncan expelled a ragged breath and turned to her with a wide-eyed expression. He felt like a child, looking for parental guidance, and the irony was pretty stifling.

Due to the lack of traffic, the ride back took less time than anticipated, so they pulled to the side of the road to wait it out and reclined their seats.

_Great. Extra time for me to sit here and still not have the balls to say everything I've been dreaming of telling her for the past six years._

Mac was sound asleep, curled into fetal position on the back seat. She had been in that exact position for the last four hours, so it was safe to assume she wouldn't be stirring until he or Veronica decided to shake her to consciousness.

_This is my chance, maybe my only chance._

"Veronica..." Duncan croaked out softly, alerting her to his waking presence.

Her head was tipped back against the headrest and she rolled it in his direction. "Nothing like a five hour drive in the middle of the night to keep a girl looking fresh."

He rolled his head toward the sound of her voice and they stared at one another wordlessly.

"I think we both know freshness isn't your problem," he said, with amusement dancing in his eyes.

Veronica smiled and rolled her head back to look at the ceiling. "No. I suppose not."

"Veronica..." Duncan started again, unsure of what was going to come out of his mouth next.

"It must be strange," she said. "Coming home to find the world has continued turning without you there."

His brow furrowed. "Yeah, I guess. Though you would probably understand how I feel more than anyone."

She let out a small noise, which he assumed to be a laugh.

"Though I guess you seemed to have settled back into your old life pretty nicely," he added quickly.

_With Logan._

Veronica gave him a look that let him know she had received his thinly-veiled message. "Quantico was an aberration. I should have just stayed here. If I hadn't been so..."

"Angry?" Duncan asked.

She let out another laugh, much like the last one. "I was going to say scared."

He leaned forward and felt his confidence begin to crumble. He was so close to her now that he could almost smell her skin and it was distracting him, a constant reminder of what was at stake.

"Why were you scared?" he prodded.

"Logan...it was always so intense with him. Everything was always bigger when he was around, and it was overwhelming," Veronica explained pensively. "He was overwhelming."

_Of course he was intense. He's incapable of being anything but!_

She brushed a lock of brown hair from her face. "I mean, we've broken up more times than I can count, but - -"

_Huh?_

"Wait, what?" Duncan chimed in with alarm.

Her eyes narrowed with confusion. "_What _what?"

"How many...you dated Logan after I left Neptune?" he asked, a look of incredulity scrawled across his chiseled features.

Veronica's surprised expression quickly slid into one of amusement. "What did you think, DK? Did you think I just decided to move in with him based on the strength of our four month relationship back in high school? That would be insane! As it is, the whole thing is pretty crazy."

His mouth fell open. "I...uh, I didn't know."

_What the hell?_

She shrugged casually, like she hadn't just rocked his world. "How could you? I mean, it's not like we could really chat about our lives."

Duncan's throat felt like sandpaper, so he reached for the bottle of water at his feet and took a long sip. His mind was spinning. He had always assumed that he was the looming figure in Veronica's love life, the one whose loss haunted her when the lights went out at night.

The specter of their love followed him like a shadow, from country to country, continent to continent, every place that sunlight ever touched. He assumed it was the same for her. Weren't they star-crossed lovers who would one day find their way back to one another? Wasn't their love story endless? He could feel his legs turn to jelly at the realization.

"I just...couldn't forget him, you know?" Veronica said, her sapphire eyes sparkling with intensity. "I don't feel like myself when I'm not with him, and I thought that would be a good thing, because I wasn't the biggest fan of me at the time, but I found out the hard way that I couldn't run from him any more than I could run from myself. I'm probably not making any sense..." she rambled, and silently laughed at herself.

_Oh God. She really does love him and not me. Not. Me._

Duncan shook his head. "No, that makes perfect sense. I know exactly how you feel."

She tipped her head quizzically before his true meaning set in. "Oh my God. Duncan, I feel like such a - -"

He waved his hand weakly in the air. "Forget it. Seriously. I think I needed something to cling to and hope for. Something to keep me going through the hard times. It wasn't real."

_But it felt real to me._

Veronica's look of pity made his spine go rigid with embarrassment. "I always wished it was you that was Lilly's mom."

She picked her head up and her face contorted into an expression that he couldn't quite read.

Three loud knocks sounded on the driver's side window, startling all three passengers inside.

As the trio turned toward the window, they were greeted by the sight of a shiny, silver Glock pressed up against it.

Mac let loose a blood-curdling scream.

* * *

**A/N – Okay, so I'm evil for leaving you on a cliffhanger, but maybe this will inspire feedback, which I love as much as Logan loves Veronica :)**

**Thanks for reading - hope to hear from you!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey! Just want to make clear that I am _not_ using cliffhangers to get more reviews. I shill for reviews shamelessly with or without the cliffhangers :)**

**Anyway, my point is that we're nearing the climax of the story and so there will be a lot of chapters that end with cliffies from this point on, regardless of where I stop the chapter. It's inevitable, since we're sprinting toward the end at this point, so please don't think it's manipulation - it's just where we are in the plot. The one thing I _can_ promise is that I will continue to post frequently, as I have been doing all along. **

**Also, I will never hold chapters hostage until I get a certain # of reviews. I don't have review quotas, though I do honestly feel more pressure to pump chapters out faster if there are tons of comments – only because that means there are more people who get disappointed if I don't come through with an update. **

**The main thing is that I truly do love hearing from you all, so if you feel like leaving a review, it is much appreciated and loved.**

**As usual, this is unbeta'd, so please ignore the little flubs. Also, I am begging you all not to kill me for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. I know you'll want to, because it's a doozy, but please don't hurt me or I can't finish writing this!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 27**

_Previously:_

_Three loud knocks sounded on the driver's side window, startling all three passengers inside._

_As the trio turned toward the window, they were greeted by the sight of a shiny, silver Glock pressed up against it._

_Mac let loose a blood-curdling scream._

* * *

Before Veronica could react, Mac wrenched open the back door of the car and stormed outside.

"Assholes!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs at their unannounced guests.

Weevil and Gory were both doubled over with laughter, though neither stayed that way for long.

With steam nearly pouring out of her ears, Mac marched directly up to Weevil and shoved him hard with both hands. "Dick!" she hissed in Gory's direction.

Veronica turned to a still-recovering Duncan and smirked. "Now, do you suppose she means that as a compliment or an insult?"

Duncan chuckled at the implication. "I'm going to go pull her off of them before she hurts herself."

Veronica peered out of the window to take in the scene. "Mac is not the one cowering on the floor over there."

Weevil was curled up into a ball on the grass trying to protect himself from the furious computer geek who had resorted to rough tickling at that point.

_It's not every day you get to see somebody treated to a real live Mac-attack._

"The first thing I want to see after being rudely woken from a dead sleep is not a fucking gun!" she grumbled as she half-heartedly kicked him in the ass, before collapsing exhausted against the car door herself.

_Gory. Just the man I was looking for._

Veronica unrolled the driver's side window and leaned halfway out. "Top of the morning to you," she said, nodding at Gory. "Care to join me for some coffee?"

Gory leaned lazily into her window and looked down at her. "I could go for a cup of Joe."

She jerked her head toward the other side of the car. "Get in."

_Come into my web, little house fly..._

He made his way to the front passenger's seat and filled Duncan's vacant spot, closing the door swiftly behind him.

A loud click signified the power locks being engaged and flash of concern crossed Gory's face. "Did you just lock me in?"

_Gotcha!_

"Why? Do you have somewhere else to be right now?" Veronica asked curtly.

"Uh...I can hang out for a few minutes. Where's the coffee?" Gory wondered, looking at the console between them.

Veronica snapped her fingers and pretended to be bummed. "Aww, shoot. Wouldn't you know it, we just ran out."

Gory shook his head, looking equal parts exhausted and nonplussed. "You looked hotter as a blonde," he spat randomly and reached for the door, which refused to open. He tugged a few more times and then fell back against the seat, fully irritated. "What did you do to the doors?"

"You know, Dick was in here earlier, so I had to engage the child locks," she told him.

He calmed his breathing and turned to her coolly. "The only reason I'm not trashing this piece of shit jalopy you're riding in right now is because I was an asshole to you in college. You get one pass."

Veronica placed a hand over her heart as if she were touched. "That was the worst apology I've ever heard. Seriously, gush anymore and you'll embarrass us both," she spat.

A smile crept up on Gory and he relaxed into his seat. "Alright Mars. Get it over with. What's your damage?"

_Does he get turned on by getting yelled at? I always figured it would be the other way around with him._

Veronica leaned forward until she was just inches from his face. "If you want me to help you, you're going to answer one question for me."

He slowly ran a finger down the seam of the window. "Yeah, in case you didn't pick up on this about me earlier, I don't really respond well to orders."

_No shit?_

She took a deep breath to calm her anger and pushed on, ignoring his bravado. "Just tell me one thing, Gory, and I'll let you out of here with your balls in tact. Did you know what was going to happen when you hired me to tail Logan that night?"

He closed the distance between them until their noses were nearly touching and shook his head, "Let's call it, Se-ren-di-pi-ty," he said, drawing out every syllable.

_I'd prefer to call it sub-ter-fuge._

Her brow furrowed. "So you're saying you were just the patsy then?"

Gory's eyes hardened. "I'm nobody's patsy."

"Webster's dictionary defines 'patsy' as 'a person who is easily manipulated'. If you're saying that you didn't order the hit yourself and you didn't know anything about it, then I'm afraid you fit the bill, Patricia," she explained with gusto.

He tipped his head from side to side, weighing her words. "True, I didn't know what was going to happen, but I also never asked and I didn't really care. I mean, I figured you'd probably be able to take care of yourself with whatever Petrenko had arranged, and your little toy boy has the resiliency of a cockroach. That guy really knows how to take a punch, I'll give him that. And nobody would know better than me..." he said with a smug grin.

_Really? Because, I'm about two seconds from finding out how well YOU take a punch._

Veronica's face dropped and a bone-chilling intensity came over her. She lifted her index finger and jabbed it squarely in the middle of Gory's chest. "If you want my help getting your girlfriend back, you and me are going to get one thing straight – if you so much as look cross-eyed in Logan's direction again, I _promise _I'll make you wish you'd never heard the name Veronica Mars."

"You may be a little late with that one," he said with a laugh.

"That's what you say now...imagine how you'll feel when I make you really mean it." Her sunny smile belied the thinly veiled heat behind her eyes. "He's off-limits from now on, Gory."

"Or what?" Gory challenged, his hackles engaged.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms behind her head. "Telling you would take away half the fun."

_...and the hammer drops._

He held his ground for less than a moment before relenting. "Okay look, I'm a man who can admit when he's screwed up."

"Since when? You're like the Douchemaster General of humility," Veronica exclaimed, her face twisting into a scowl.

"You like Katya, right? She's pretty great? Well, she loves me. I'm not the monster you think I am. Otherwise, how would I have managed to get a girl like her to love me? " Gory asked.

Veronica observed him closely before speaking. "I was operating under the assumption of blackmail or heavy sedation."

Gory shifted in his chair, assessing his foe for signs of weakness. Realizing she had the upper hand, he kneaded the back of his neck and gave in. "I'm sorry about all of that bullshit in college. I was an asshole, okay?" he said, dipping his head to check his progress in her expression.

"And?" she prodded, holding her ground.

He sighed heavily. "And...I won't look cross-eyed at your boyfriend" he pledged, prompting an arched brow from Veronica, pushing him to continue. "And I'll never touch an overly-styled hair on his pampered little head ever again. Happy now?"

_Happy for you, because if you did decide to touch him again, they'd be finding pieces of you in the dessert for years._

Veronica smiled, genuinely this time. "You may leave now," she proclaimed with a flick of the wrist as the doors clicked to unlock."

Gory opened the car door, but turned back before he stepped outside. "Katya helped you out when it was you who got kidnapped, so maybe you could return the favor? I know you're not the president of my fan club, Mars, but I'll do anything to get her back. You've got to help me. Please," he urged with the utmost sincerity.

_I owe her, he's right. But I'm not doing it for him._

Veronica reached in front of Gory's lap and opened the glove box, then pulled out a can of Starbucks coffee drink and handed it to him. "I invited you in for coffee. It's not fresh, but I always keep my promises," she told him ominously.

He gave her a lopsided smile, then flipped the can of coffee once in his hand and exited the car.

* * *

Logan ambled toward the lobby of the hotel, still consumed by thoughts of his tiny girlfriend. She had always been a maelstrom of activity, and trouble followed her like a stray dog, but nobody could ever accuse her of being boring.

He figured that enduring a lifetime of trouble with her was worth it, because he knew he'd be getting a lifetime of excitement in return, though it would be a lie if he didn't admit the constant intrigue was taxing. It tired him out as a teen, and as a man in his mid-20's, it wasn't exactly getting any easier to roll with. For her though, he would roll.

As Logan crossed the threshold into the lobby, he immediately froze, holding his arm out to block Dick's advance.

"What's up, dude?" the blond asked innocently.

Logan signaled for Dick to keep quiet and pulled him behind a plant.

"That heavy-set guy at the front desk look familiar at all to you?" he whispered into his friend's ear.

Dick leaned back slightly to check out the man in question and narrowed his eyes. "The fat, old guy in the suit?"

Logan nodded tightly.

Dick's eyes bulged upon recognition of Petrenko's henchman, Boris, and his jaw firmly set. "What the hell do you think he's doing here?"

"Well, I don't think he came for you or me," Logan guessed as he ran an unstable hand through his hair. "This is not fucking good."

Dick appraised the man's threat level and shook his head. "Dude, that guy's like, in his 50's or something, and in pretty crappy shape. We can definitely kick his ass."

Logan exhaled roughly and pulled nervously at his shirt sleeves. "Hard to kick somebody's ass with a gun pointed in your face."

_I'd try it anyway, if I had to._

The blue eyes of his affable pal twinkled with epiphany, as he quickly propped his left leg up onto the terra cotta planter. Dick lifted the hem of his jeans, revealing a small caliber revolver strapped to his calf. "How about now?"

_I love you, man!_

He flashed a relieved smile. "You're a genius, Dick. Don't let anybody ever tell you any differently."

Dick beamed and puffed out his chest proudly. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"I'm going upstairs to get Lilly and you get the car and circle around to meet us at the back entrance," Logan suggested.

"Got it," he answered, as he unstrapped the gun from his leg and placed it in Logan's waiting grip. "This one's different than the ones we used with dad at the range. It doesn't have a safety, but you have to lock the clip it into place before it will fire," he informed him, then mimed the procedure.

_WFT? I take back that genius comment from earlier._

Logan blanched and looked at his friend with incredulity. "You've been walking around the whole time with a loaded gun strapped to your leg and the safety off?"

Dick shrugged and smiled widely. "What can I say? I like to live dangerously."

_Clearly._

He shook off his former roommate's insanity and tucked the gun into the back waistband of his pants. "What about you?"

Dick lifted the jeans hem on his right leg and revealed a twin to the other gun.

"Two unsecured, live weapons? Well...I sure feel safe now," Logan deadpanned, rolling his eyes to himself.

_I can't believe I ride around in a car with this guy all the time. Who knew I've just been one pot hole away from having my dong blown off, just by sitting next to him?_

"He's starting to move," Dick announced with a backhanded slap to his buddy's pec. "He just pushed the call button for the elevator."

It was dangerous, and they were each concerned about the other, but there was no time for words of luck or friendship. They'd been closer than brothers for so long, that there were times not even air came between them. The two men connected eyes for a split second and convey all that they wanted to say in a single glance.

_You're a lot of things, Dick Casablancas, but luckily for me, one of them is dog-loyal. I owe you big time, buddy._

Logan gave Dick a half-salute and then took off like a bullet for Stairwell B, as the fat man waited impatiently for the elevator carriage to arrive.

As Dick walked through the entrance to the lobby, he roughly slammed his fist into the pane covering the fire alarm, pushed his fingers past the broken shards of glass and flipped the switch on his way into the parking lot.

The siren wailed loudly, and everybody in the lobby froze to see what the commotion was about.

Bellhops herded the guests away from the elevator banks and guided them to the parking lot for safety.

Boris slipped past the concierge who yelled futilely at him to stop, and then drew his gun as he entered Stairwell A.

* * *

Veronica leaned into the trunk of her car and tried to pull out a long, brown, heavy briefcase.

Seeing her struggle, Duncan jogged over to help. "What is that thing?" he asked, grabbing it out of her hands.

"A present from Dick," she said as Duncan placed the weighty object on the ground. "Which could frighteningly mean anything."

The software heir rubbed his hands lovingly over the top of the crocodile embossed, leather-bound case. "What do you think? 200 pairs of Huarache sandals? Animal balloons? A pinata filled with flavored condoms?" he guessed.

_You're probably not far off, sadly._

Veronica brought her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. "I think Dick is kickin' it old school. I'm going to guess...all 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica...and a pinata filled with flavored condoms."

"Magic words, please?" Duncan clicked open the latches on both sides of the container.

"Gnarlatious surf bunny," Veronica chanted while waving her hands.

"That'll do," he said as he lifted the top of the case. As the examined the contents, both members of the ex-couple dropped their mouths open in shock.

_Holy artillery, Batman! It's like Dick has the entire evidence bag from the Iran Contra affair squished in this one box. How many gun ranges do you own, Dick 'Nugent'?_

"Nobody told me we were fighting the Sinaloa Cartel," Weevil observed, surprised by the volume of fire power housed within the steel container. "I woulda brought my uzi."

Veronica reached in and grabbed a black Colt .45 and two magazines, which she tucked into various pockets in her cargo pants. "You know, I have to hand it to you Mac, the Brooklyn hipster look does have it's uses."

Duncan took a Beretta and one clip.

"Do you know how to use that, Ducnan?" Veronica asked skeptically.

"I did a course in Australia. I figured it wouldn't hurt, in case I encountered some particularly aggressive bounty hunters," he answered.

_As if. Any bounty hunter worth his salt would be able to make you in five minutes, and one weekend at a gun course isn't going to stand in the way of these goons. Daddy Mars excluded from the 'goon' label, naturally. _

Her forehead creased with concern. "And did you?"

Duncan scratched his head. "Not until I stepped foot in the US. We were barely here a week before Petrenko grabbed us."

_Guess that training really came in handy._

Veronica turned away and frowned. "I feel really responsible for that."

He rested a friendly hand on her narrow shoulder. "It's not your fault. I was coming back anyway to cut a deal with the Feds. Just a really crappy coincidence, I guess."

"I don't believe in those," she remarked.

Duncan looked pensively at her face. "Nice to know some things haven't changed."

_So, I'm guessing you're still mad?_

Veronica grabbed Duncan's hand and pulled him away from the group. "Duncan, I'm sorry."

He nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much. Unfortunately, that doesn't really make the rejection go down any easier."

Emotionally exhausted, Veronica let out a frustrated growl and allowed her head to fall forward onto Duncan's shoulder, and he placed a hesitant hand on her back for comfort. "You're the very last person I'd want to hurt, Duncan. There was a time, long ago, when I would've given anything to have you back in my life."

"What changed?" he rasped almost painfully.

"I did," she said, speaking into his chest to avoid his eyes. "And even if you can't see it, you did too."

Duncan buried his face into her hair. "What does he have that I don't?"

_Oh God. Where do I start? I loved you so much when I was 16, but I'm not 16 anymore, Duncan, and tastes change! Also, when Logan touches me...oh lord, don't go down that road Veronica or you'll end up distracting yourself so thoroughly that you won't hear a word he says._

Veronica laughed and lifted her head to face him. "Nothing. He has nothing on you DK. He's not perfect, he's just perfect for me."

_Did I mention he's the best lay I've ever had and that he can read my thoughts? That too._

"I wish I understood it. I mean, I get why you like him, most women do, I just didn't think he was the kind of guy a woman could build a life with," he said.

_You really don't know him. Logan, also, is no longer 16. _

"You're absolutely right, but I think we can both agree that I'm not like most women. Logan's not a safe bet, but I've been in love with him for nearly half my life and I don't see that changing any time soon," she confessed.

"Were you...you were in love with him when we got back together senior year," Duncan guessed.

_Fuck! I was really hoping he wouldn't ask me this. Do I lie? How can I, when it must've been SO obvious to anybody who wasn't Logan or me? My dad could even tell._

Her face confirmed his assumption and he shook off the hit. "What about the first time we were together?" he asked fearfully.

_Oh Duncan. I really did love you once, and I hate doing this to you, but it's crueler to lead you on._

She shook her head. "Of course not, Duncan. Logan was Lilly's then, and I really didn't think of him like that."

_Except when the lights went out and I used to have those hot dreams...yeah. Okay, maybe I didn't love him then, but those dreams were anything but platonic._

He nodded tightly and let out a sigh of relief, happy that the integrity of their first love remained in tact. "Well, if it's not me, then I'm glad it's him, I guess," he said. "I mean, when Logan loves a girl, he really puts everything he has into it. It used to freak Lilly out and made her feel suffocated."

_Being asked on a 2nd date used to make Lilly feel suffocated. Logan was hurting so much back then and he just needed to cling to somebody who cared about him. Despite what happened, they loved each other just as we did, but neither couple would have been compatible in the long run._

"What do you think she'd say if she saw the three of us today?" Veronica asked earnestly.

Duncan smiled. "She actually predicted this just after we broke up."

Her interest peaked.

"Lilly told me that Logan could use a girl like you, because you had way more patience than she did, but still knew when to put the screws to him when he needed to be reigned back in," he said, laughing at the memory.

_I knew she was trying to pawn him off on me right before she was killed! Why else would she invite us over to her house and then bail so often, leaving us alone together wearing nothing but swimsuits? Oh Lilly, you little schemer. I can't imagine all of the wonderful trouble you would have gotten us all into had you lived._

"Logan was quite a handful back then, wasn't he?" Veronica said with a smile.

"She also thought you might appreciate his smothering devotion, since I was such a 'cold fish'," Duncan said with a grimace. "My sister was never one to mince words."

"You're not a cold fish, DK, you're reserved. Plus, she was never with us when we were alone, so she didn't know how you could be. Anyway, she'd be proud of the man you became and she would have worshiped little Lilly. You know, it's weird how much I still miss her after all these years," she admitted wistfully.

_I have great friends, but there will never be another like her. She was one of a kind. The saddest loss for me is that I really think we would have only grown closer as I came into my own._

"Me too," he responded almost in a whisper.

A comfortable silence blanketed them both.

"Are you really okay with Logan and me?" Veronica asked.

Duncan shrugged. "I don't really have a choice if I want you guys in my life, and I do. Anyway, maybe it's time I finally got a fresh start."

She threw her arms around him, but knocked into something long and hard and immediately recoiled. "Say, is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

He groaned at her joke and patted the gun in his pocket. "Do you think everybody brings a loaded weapon to visit their dying mother, or am I unique?"

_Hold the phone!_

Veronica's eyes opened wide at his admission. "You know about Celeste's cancer? Who told you?"

Duncan looked at the grass under his feet and ran a hand over his mouth twice as if to brush off some imaginary crumbs. "Logan told me."

_The hell he did. Looks like somebody's been keeping secrets._

She watched him shift his weight nervously from one foot to the next. "Oh."

_Oh, indeed._

* * *

Logan took the concrete stairs two at a time as he sprinted to the 7th floor without stopping once to catch his breath.

He pushed the door open and bounded down the plush hallway toward the door of his suite, then pulled out his key card, fumbling with it the first few times.

_Didn't they have this technology in the early 80's? Time to step it up, hotel people! What's next, a skeleton key?_

After three agonizing attempts to activate the lock, he finally shoved the plastic rectangle into the slot properly and the light turned green.

_Jackpot!_

He rushed inside and closed the door behind him, careful to engage the brass latch lock on the inside of the door.

_Sure. Nobody will get through that._

"Lilly!" he screamed in a hoarse whisper as he passed the picture windows without a glance and opened the adjoining door in the middle of their room. "Honey, you have to wake up!"

The little girl stirred and sat up slowly. "Is daddy back yet?" she asked, still slightly disoriented by the sudden disturbance.

"No baby," Logan said as he collected her shoes from the ground and began to sloppily shove them on her little feet.

"What are you doing, Uncle Logan?" she groaned and tried to retract her legs from his grasp.

"Uh..." he panicked, not knowing what to say that wouldn't frighten her.

_Great. You can either scare the shit out of her or totally freak her out. Pick your poison, Barry Poppins._

He looked around the room to grab her essentials, realizing that she had none with her, and then inspiration hit. "Honey, Lilly. Remember how sometimes you and your daddy had to pick up and leave where you were living without any warning?"

She sat ramrod straight and her head cleared. "Are the bad men here?" she whispered quietly as she surveyed the area.

_Man, I wish I were half as composed at my age as she is at hers. Her predecessor would be suitably impressed with this kid's cool._

"That's right. Grab whatever you need right this second and we can replace the rest," Logan told her and began to pull her toward the door of the room.

Lilly resisted for a moment and pointed to the bed. "Auntie Vee got that for me tonight," she said, pointing at a stuffed cat on the bed. "That's all I need to take."

_A bobcat. Very cute, Ronnie._

Logan lunged to grab it just as they heard a loud bang on the outside of the door leading to Logan's side of the room.

They both froze.

He looked into two panicked, blue marbles and smiled warmly in an attempt to calm her down, then quietly lifted her onto his back and put a finger to his lips.

Lilly clung tightly to his neck and rested her cheek on his back.

_God help me, I can't lose another Lilly. I'd never forgive myself._

Logan placed one hand on the door handle and the other on the gun in his waistband and waited.

Two shots rang out and the door slammed open, bouncing hard against the wall behind it.

He closed his eyes and listened for the sound of Boris's advancing steps. As soon as he heard the floor creak from deep within the other room, he slipped out through Lilly's external door and closed it gently behind them, careful not to let it snap shut.

Logan took off running down the long hallway toward Staircase B, with one arm cradling Lilly to his back.

"Uncle Logan!" Lilly shrieked, as Boris flung the smaller room's door open and stepped out into the carpeted corridor.

The Ukrainian thug took off after the pair, and was fast gaining on them, despite his age and size.

Logan was quick and fit, but the added weight and shape of the little girl on his back made him decidedly less aerodynamic, and it was slowing them down.

As Boris closed the distance between them, he reached out with his arms, in an attempt to snatch Lilly off of Logan's back.

"Get away from me!" she yelled harshly in her high pitched voice, before pegging the bobcat directly at the older man's windmilling legs.

Unable to dodge the obstacle with such short notice, Boris tripped over the stuffed animal and tumbled forward onto his face.

_Even when she's not here, Veronica somehow manages to save the day._

Logan raced down the stairs with Lilly in tow and headed for the back entrance.

As they stumbled outside toward freedom, Logan was hit with a sick feeling in his gut.

_They're too close. We don't even know how many are with him. There's no way we can outrun him when we don't even know how they found us in the first place._

As planned, Dick was sitting in his idling SUV with the passenger window rolled halfway down.

"When he gets here, take off fast like you have us with you and lead them away from here! When you lose them, circle back around and pick us up in the same spot!" Logan shouted frantically at his tow-headed best friend. "We'll be hiding until then, so honk steadily, four times in a row, and we'll come out."

* * *

"What the hell, dude? You'll never make it. That's suicide!" Dick called back angrily.

"They're too close to outrun. Misdirection is the only way," Logan shouted and then barreled toward the outside entrance of Stairwell A.

_When I said suicide, I was talking about ME, bro. This better keep mini-Lilly safe or I am fucking myself up for nothing, here._

The very moment the door shut behind Logan, Boris burst out of Stairwell B into the back parking lot.

Dick floored the engine of his car and took off toward the main road at top speed.

Boris leveled his gun at the retreating vehicle and fired off several rounds into the back, smashing the rear windshield into smithereens as well as puncturing the rear tire on the right side of the car.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

A searing ache coursed through Dick's shoulder and pain radiated to his collarbone and down his chest and arm.

The large man lifted a walkie talkie from his belt and belted out an order in Ukrainian.

Out of nowhere, two Ducati motorcycles sped past Boris and took chase.

_This is fucked up! I've been fucking shot! Even if I do make it out of this alive, I'm never gonna be able to surf like I used to, dammit. Just calm down and keep your eyes on the road, dude. Hold that wheel tight like you just bought it a drink during 'last call'. No, hold it like you held HER tonight, man, and don't let go._

Bleeding profusely from his shoulder, Dick struggled to keep the car on the road as it lurched wildly, driving at 80 miles an hour on three tires and one bald rim.

The motorcycles caught up to their target and one of the drivers pulled out a revolver and aimed it at the other rear tire.

_BANG!_

The back tire blew out and Dick's car was hurled recklessly toward the highway median in a dead spin.

Unsure of where it was coming from, Dick suddenly could hear music, as clear as a bell.

"_On the sidewalk, one Sunday morning  
Lies a body, oozin' life  
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner  
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?"_

_Am I dreaming this? Did I accidentally knock into the radio? Is that Frank Sinatra?_

As the front of the car struck metal and the air bags deployed, Dick's vision was obscured by billowing white clouds, pressing firmly into his lungs. He was having trouble breathing through the pressure and the lack of visibility was freaking him out, so he used an old surf training technique and closed his eyes.

_You can't be scared of what you don't see. You're in a shallow swimming pool and you're safe, so just fucking go with the waves man. Don't fight it. Just listen to your body and it will tell you what you need to know. _

With his eyes tightly shut, the only thing Dick could see was darkness, until a figure appeared. It was Mac, breathless and pink with flush, looking up at him with the bluest, most trusting eyes he'd ever seen. _"I don't hate you...not anymore at least,"_ she whispered sweetly.

She smiled and wrapped her legs around his waist, as her hands snaked their way up the back of his shirt, caressing his tanned skin as they rose. _"I think I like us being friends..."_ she murmured warmly into his neck as she softly kissed her way up to his mouth and then giggled_. _

In between kisses, Mac began to sing. _"__Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe, scarlet billows start to spread..."_

Dick could hear his heartbeat getting louder and louder, and it began to drown out Mac's voice and overtake his senses. Suddenly, she slipped from his arms and walked sadly away, without looking back once.

"Mac! Cindy!" he screamed ferociously, panicking for the first time since he felt the bullet burn a hole through his flesh.

He touched the airbag that was pinning his chest to the seat and noticed the color of it change from white to red.

"You don't have to know what something's like to want it, Logan. You just do..." he heard himself whisper just before slipping out of consciousness.

* * *

**A/N – Okay, okay. I know you are all prepared to kill me right now. I _promise_ you will be happy at the end of this fic, so fret not people. Dick and Mac are probably my favorite characters to write for (other than CLIFF!), so take that for what you will...**

**I would love to hear what you think, even if you're really mad at me for shooting Dick. Special thanks to all of you who have reviewed/favorited/alerted this story :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**I know, I know...how could I do that to Dick? I'm evil. We haven't seen the last of him though, I promise.**

**PS - Bonus points to those who remembered Dick serenading Mac with 'Mack the Knife' while they were discussing their dads during the drive to Carmel in chapter 19.**

**PPS - Big love (as usual) to silverlining2k6 for being the best sounding board on FF!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 28**

Veronica closed her eyes tightly to block out the sunrise as she turned herself toward it. After a solid block of driving on little sleep, it felt good to feel the warmth on her face. She forgot how absolutely perfect the weather was in Neptune. In DC and Virginia, she'd be wearing a coat and gloves right now.

_Logan would probably have the car half-packed for the beach by now._

It had been nearly six hours since she'd left Logan and Dick at the hotel to watch Lilly, and nearly as long since she'd heard from either of them.

_Everything's fine. They're just sleeping. It's not like he can text while he's passed out._

The thought of Logan curled up in their hotel bed alone, his hair rumpled adorably with skin tepid from being under covers, was enough to make Veronica want to turn around and drive all the way up there to climb in next to him. If she kept her eyes shut long enough, she could almost picture him, his long arms extended across the mattress, with one leg pulled out from the protection of the duvet, and a slight smile playing on his lips as he breathed softly into his pillow. She always loved him best in the morning, when he was at his most childlike and cuddlesome. It was the only time he ever looked innocent to her.

When they were in college, Logan used to drape his heavy limbs over Veronica's smaller frame to trap her beneath him. His feeble attempt to keep her with him longer when she had class to attend. She found it annoying at the time, but as the years passed and her experience with men increased, she finally was able to appreciate his devotion for what it was truly worth.

Finding somebody who would treat loving you like it was their one mission in life, was like panning for gold and fishing out a diamond. Logan might have needed a little more polish, but she knew now for certain that he was her diamond in the rough.

Mac approached Veronica from behind and threw an arm over her shoulder. "I can hear your brain whirring from other there. What's up, Bond?"

"You haven't heard from Dick at all have you?" Veronica asked.

Mac pulled out her phone, took a peek, and then tucked it back into the pocket of her hoodie. "Nope. Why? Do you think that means he's not really into me or something?" she wondered apprehensively.

Veronica laughed. "No, I'm pretty positive he's into you, Q. I mean, he was almost literally 'into you' in the parking lot."

Mac blushed and buried her head into her friend's shoulder. "I sicken myself."

"Come on. It's okay that you have feelings for him. I know I was kind of psychotic about it earlier, but I didn't mean to make you feel bad," Veronica said regretfully.

_Oh my God, I am the worst friend ever._

Mac stood next to Veronica, then closed her eyes and faced the sunlight as well. "Eh, you didn't say anything I wasn't already thinking."

"Well, I'm sure you felt the same way when I started dating Logan in high school. I know Wallace did," she said.

"Yeah. I mean, Dick was a jerk, but he never bashed in my headlights," Mac said.

"True dat," Veronica agreed. "Though Logan did look kind of hot wielding that crowbar..."

"You have serious issues." Mac leaned over and shoulder checked her friend. "Hey, you look distracted. Is your spidey sense tingling or something?"

"Like a bad rash," Veronica grumbled. "Logan would've texted me by now, but you know, I'm sure I'm overreacting," she said with a wave of her hand.

"I could trace the burner phones, if it will make you feel better," Mac offered.

_Some women have friends who bring over a carton of ice cream when the boy they like doesn't call them, mine offer to track the guy down using GPS._

Veronica deliberated for a moment and then shook her head. "Nah. Logan used to hate it when I did that in college. He's been so great, I don't want him to think I don't trust him." She wiped the morning dew off her phone screen and stared at it longingly. "However...it wouldn't really be me not trusting him if you traced Dick's phone though, right?"

Mac snorted. "Sure, get _me _in trouble."

"You know as well as I do that tracing Dick's phone would probably just turn him on," Veronica said with a smirk.

Though Mac was silent, Veronica could feel the soft puffs of air on the side of her neck as her friend shook with laughter beside her.

"I'll take care of it, if it'll get you to stop boring a hole through that phone," Mac said. "Staring at it isn't going to make it ring any faster."

Almost as if she had planned it, the phone rang on cue. Veronica raised a smug eyebrow at her friend and they both giggled. "Isn't it?"

"Oh, Bond, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you found a way to make it rain when you felt like it," she said.

"Are you missing me already, puppy?" Veronica cooed huskily into the receiver.

"If by already, you mean for the last week, then yes darling daughter, I am," Keith replied, unamused.

_Whoops! Guess I should be glad I didn't use my other nickname for Logan. That would have proved awkward._

"Uh...hi daddy!" she said into the phone in the most girlish voice she can muster, hoping to wipe the memory of her sexy voice from her father's memory.

"I'm prepared to pretend that didn't just happen, if you are," he said.

"I have no idea what you could be referring to," Veronica said firmly. "Now, tell me what you found out when you went to see Jake last night."

"He's away on business. I got him on his phone though. We only spoke briefly, and of course, he denied any knowledge or involvement in Katya's kidnapping," Keith disclosed, in an unquestioning tone.

Veronica caught a glimpse of Duncan watching her closely while trying not to be obvious. She turned coat and walked far enough away from him to avoid being heard. "You say that like you believe him or something."

"That's probably because I do," Keith said.

She yanked the phone from her ear and glared at it as if it had just slapped her across the face, then replaced it. "You did not just say that to me."

"Didn't I?" he asked.

"Dad! He's not a boy scout. This is a man who is capable of covering up his own daughter's murder and tried to have you thrown in jail," she groaned.

Veronica could almost hear her father trying to collect his thoughts on the other side of the line. "Isn't that more of a reason to trust my instincts about him? Believe me, I would love for him to be guilty, but it's counterproductive to try to build a case around an innocent man."

_Why does his voice sound so strange and strained? Is he hiding something from me? No, he wouldn't do that._

She brought her hand to her forehead and squeezed sharply. She could feel the pulse points in her head incessantly banging away, like a set of steel drums at a Jamaican resort. "Why on Earth do you think he's innocent?" she said.

"Does he even know that Duncan's back in the country? Does he know that Petrenko kidnapped him?" Keith asked, instantly rendering his daughter speechless. "He has an alibi, anyway. He's been out of town the last 24 hours."

"Right. As if Jake Kane himself would be standing in the shadows, wielding a stun gun," Veronica balked. "Okay, let's pretend Jake had nothing to do with this, then who hired Clarence Wiedman to take Katya? You're telling me it's a coincidence Kane's chief of security kidnapped Katya immediately after Duncan and Lilly escaped? If Wiedman knew Duncan was in town, then Kane knew. He works for Kane!"

"You're letting your personal feelings for him color the investigation, Veronica," Keith said angrily. "I'm telling you, something isn't kosher here. I honestly think Jake is in the dark about Duncan. You can't afford a misstep here, Veronica! It could get you – well, it's...just not safe to go barking up the wrong tree, okay?"

_What the hell is going on? He sounds unusually skittish. Well, you're right about one thing dad, something definitely isn't kosher, because you are way too worried about me investigating Kane for this to be on the level. Why aren't you showing me all of your cards? What do you know that you're not telling me?_

Veronica took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her dad was no fool, and if he believed Jake is innocent, he must have his reasons. "Why do you think he's innocent?" she asked, much softer this time around.

"Call it a hunch. I think I know the man well enough by now to tell when he's lying. I have 30 years of experience dealing with liars, and eight of them focused mainly on Jake," he explained.

_And yet, you couldn't tell that your own wife was cheating with him behind your back. Maybe I'm not the only one who can't be objective when it comes to the Kane family?_

"Do you trust my instincts, Veronica?" Keith asked, in an almost fragile way that made her heart ache.

_You're the only one whose instincts I trust. Always have, always will._

"Yeah," Veronica answered without reservations. "Of course I do. You know I do," she assured him.

She could hear him sigh in relief. "Whatever the hell you have planned. don't tell me anything about it. I can't deny involvement if you do," he said. "But if you get yourself in trouble and you need help, you'll call," he insisted. "Just please be careful."

"When am I not careful?" Veronica asked, with a hint of sarcasm. "You're rolling your eyes right now, aren't you?"

"Me? No. Never..." he responded dryly.

"You'd make a terrible poker player, dad," she said.

Keith laughed emptily for a moment, then became eerily silent as if he'd just remembered something horrible.

"What?" Veronica asked nervously. "Why did you stop talking?"

_I've always been better at cards than he is. Maybe, I can steal a peek at his 'river' after all?_

He exhaled raggedly and she could hear him switch the phone in his hand and bring it to his other ear. "I'm debating whether or not to tell you something, but I don't want you to freak out."

"If you didn't want me to freak out, you might've been a little more selective with your word choice while telling me this." Veronica could feel her stomach bottom out. "Does it have to do with...with Logan?" she asked quietly. She could feel all of the moisture in her throat evaporate rapidly and every muscle in her body constrict with worry.

_God. Please please please don't let this be about Logan! _

As much as she wanted to believe otherwise, she knew her father wouldn't keep something important from her unless he thought it would be for her own good. Like, for example, if he didn't want to upset her just before she was about to go out into the field to perform an important rescue operation.

Keith cleared his throat a few times.

_Oh god!_

With her jaw clenched shut as tightly as her eyes, Veronica leaned into her phone and waited for her world to end. "Just say it," she coldly prompted.

"There was an accident..." he started, but was interrupted immediately by the sound of his daughter stifling a sob. "Logan's okay...at least...we assume he's okay."

_What?_

Veronica's eyes opened. Her toes and fingers began to relax first, though not entirely. "What does that mean?"

"They found Dick's car. It was totaled, the front end completely demolished by the metal barrier bisecting the highway," he told her slowly.

"Which hospital?" she asked and reached for the car keys in her pocket.

"Nobody knows where they are," he said, dropping the bomb that he had been loathe to dispatch.

She shook her head, completely confused. "What? What are you saying?"

"The car was bullet ridden and totaled but there was nobody inside. From the looks of it, there was only one passenger in it when the accident happened, and the paramedics on-sight assumed that they were gravely injured," Keith continued.

"How would they know that?" she asked warily.

"There was a lot of blood, honey. Who ever was driving was likely shot, and they could also have internal injuries from the crash impact to deal with as well," he explained.

Veronica sobbed once more, but didn't attempt to stifle it this time. "How – how do you know it wasn't Logan inside?"

Keith sighed his resign. "They found Dick's wallet on the floor of the car."

Her hand pressed hard against her lips as she fought her panic. "What do you think happened to him? Could he have crawled away? Maybe he's out there looking for help or maybe he's passed out on the side of the road somewhere?"

"There was no trail of blood to follow, and frankly, it would be amazing if a person who lost that much blood was conscious, much less wandering around by the road," he said.

Veronica didn't dare to look in Mac's direction. She couldn't.

_I'm not Dick Casablancas' biggest fan, but I don't want him dead. This is going to kill Logan. And Mac is just going to...oh God...she can't lose two boyfriends to death._

She ran a hand roughly through her hair, knocking the brown wig to the ground.

"My best guess is that who ever did this to him decided to clean up their mess before anybody else found it," Keith told her bluntly. "Take from that what you will."

"And Logan? And Lilly? Where are they?" she asked, her brain working overtime to focus on the things she might have control over. She knew how to find people, she could do that.

Keith rustled some papers until he found what he was looking for. "We've been in touch with the local precinct and they have their people doing an area-wide search. Since it doesn't seem as though they were inside the car, they're probably either hiding out somewhere, or..."

"...or they were taken, too," Veronica morosely predicted. "It's okay, you can say it. We have to know what we're dealing with," she said, shifting easily into professional mode.

"Veronica..." Keith said softly, his concern over her emotional state palpable.

She ran a hand under her nose and sniffed loudly. "I'm fine. Let me take care of what I have going on here and I'll contact you when it's over. You can give me an update then."

"Veronica, it's okay to be frightened. Normal people would allow themselves to be frightened over something like this," he said.

"I'm not normal people, dad," she said tensely, then dropped the phone from her ear and lifted her finger to end the call.

"Wait!" Keith shouted loud enough to halt her.

Veronica brought the phone back up to her ear.

"Last time I was at that house, I remember there being a groundskeepers' cottage somewhere in the back of that property. I wasn't able to get in to check it out last night without a warrant, but you might want to swing by," he suggested casually. "You can probably check it out on an aerial shot using Google Earth."

_The last time you were at the Kane house? Could you be referring to the time I committed grand larceny, thus setting in motion one of the darkest periods of your career? _

"Just do me a favor and try not to walk off with anything too valuable this time. I'm pretty sure the Balboa sheriff's office has a three strikes and you're out policy," Keith said.

_Sometimes I wonder if I was created through 'budding', because we are so cut from the same cloth. How could anyone have doubted our genetic link?_

Veronica smirked. "I will be sure to keep my sticky fingers to myself."

Keith laughed. "That's my girl!"

* * *

Logan and Lilly are huddled together in a locked electrical closet on the basement of the hotel.

He shifted one of his buttocks off of the cold, hard cement to gain better access to his front pocket. Trying not to disrupt the little girl who was cradled between his bent knees, he retrieved the burner phone from his pocket and lifted it high into the air, waving it around, in yet another vain attempt to get reception.

_Veronica has to be going crazy with worry right now._

As Lilly leaned back against Logan's chest, she began to whisper a song. "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

_This is worse than enduring organized torture at Git'mo. I think we'd be able to wipe out international terrorism altogether, if we could just round up all the fanatics and force them to spend six straight hours locked in a freezing basement with a bored seven year old._

She turned around and looked expectantly at Logan, who sighed and then relented. "Spongebob Squarepants," he murmured with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

"Absorbent and yellow and porous is he," Lilly continued.

He let his head roll back hit the back wall. "Spongebob Squarepants."

_What was that?_

Before the first grader could complete another verse, Logan hastily clamped his hand down over her mouth. "Someone's coming," he whispered into the girl's ear and pulled her closer.

The sound of footsteps on poured concrete reverberated off of the walls of the corridor as they slowly approached.

_I have never felt so helpless in my life. We are literally backed into a corner, and there's nothing I can do to protect her against professional goons. __Well, maybe there's one thing..._

Logan removed his hand from Lilly's waist and reached behind his back into the waistband of his trousers, grasping blindly until he felt cold steel press firmly into the palm his hand.

Sweat was beading fast across his forehead and but he was able to covertly bring the gun around to his side without Lilly noticing. The last thing he needed was for her to get nervous or, God forbid, try to grab for it without warning.

_What the hell was Dick thinking? Who carries a gun that doesn't have a safety?_

The footsteps sped up for a moment, getting louder as the distance between them closed. Suddenly, the footsteps halted.

Logan held his breath and braced for the worst.

_Please let this be the janitor..._

The handle of the door jiggled slightly with the weight of a hand on the other side, and began to turn slowly...

* * *

"Any news about Lilly?" Duncan asked as he sidled up to his ex.

Veronica shook her head and gave him a shrug. "They're probably still asleep. You know how Logan is in the morning."

_Will I ever wake up next to him and feel him pressed up against me with his nose buried deep into the back of my hair again?_

He frowned slightly and scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess, but Lilly usually wakes up at the crack of dawn. Most kids do."

Veronica busied herself with re-securing her wig in order to avoid making eye contact with Duncan.

_There's no way I can look this man in the face and lie to him about his child. I feel like a sleazebag just keeping this info from him. Besides, Duncan knows me. He'll see the guilt all over my face if I give him eye contact. I need to change the topic fast._

"Are you nervous to see your parents?" she asked.

Duncan anxiously rocked back and forth on his feet. "Of course I am. It's been...a while, obviously."

"My dad called. He said your father isn't in town right now," Veronica told him.

"That's okay. He's not really the reason I came back," he said, and looked at his feet.

_Please tell me the reason in your mom. Please._

"Lilly deserves to meet her grandparents...the ones on my side anyway," Duncan said, his lip curling with amusement at his own morbid humor.

Gory, Duncan and Weevil lounged impatiently near the imposing perimeter gate of the Kane compound.

Veronica cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "So troops, does everybody know what they're supposed to do?"

"No. Maybe you could go over it a few hundred more times?" Weevil asked with an eye roll.

"See, when you say stuff like that, ese, it only makes me want to go over it more. We'll only get one chance, so we can't blow this." She approached the keypad to unlock the gate and looked at Duncan.

Duncan leaned over Veronica's shoulder to look at the keypad. "Try 10032003."

Veronica's eye caught Weevil's and he looked away immediately. "You actually think they'd want to remind themselves of that every time they entered their house?"

"Dad would. He never liked to let a day pass without thinking of her at least once," he said quietly.

She nodded. "Well, we get three tries before the cavalry is called, so we may as well start here." Slender fingers typed in the number sequence and hit the pound button.

Three long seconds passed before the gate clicked open and they all released the breaths they were holding in.

"Shazaam!" Veronica screamed. "After you, Veronica," she said to Mac and waved her in with a flourish. "And remember kids, you're all on candid camera," she said, as she slid on a pair of oversized sunglasses and pointed to the camera with within the perimeter of the compound.

* * *

In the master bedroom of the Kane mansion, Celeste Kane was spread out on top of 1000 thread count, baroque-style, Italian sheets. Her face was drawn, yet still flawless, but her closely-cropped red tresses had long been shorn, and in their place was an ivory, silk scarf fashioned into a turban. For a woman who had a reputation of being both cold and ferocious at once, she looked remarkably fragile, like a glass figurine of a tiger placed high upon an unsteady shelf.

Clarence Wiedman entered the room without knocking and approached the edge of her bed.

"Is he here?" Celeste asked with a hopeful heart.

As a man accustomed to dealing with death, he knew intellectually that this shouldn't be as hard as it is, but after years of looking after a person's safety and well-being, it wasn't easy to see them suffer. It felt almost like years of his life had been wasted, like all of the things he had done, both good and reprehensible, to ensure her happiness, had been for naught.

_She looks so small._

"He just crossed the outer security gate," he said with a smile.

Celeste beamed, and it was the first time he'd seen a genuine smile cross her lips in a long time. It felt good to give that to her, and he swore to himself that if this truly was the end for her, he'd make it a happy one.

_All of the trouble was worth it, just to see that._

She sighed nervously and ran a shaky hand down either side of her face then turned in anticipation toward her chief of security. "Do I look okay?"

Clarence walked around the perimeter of the bed and perched himself next to her. "You look beautiful," he said earnestly, then cupped her doll-like face with both hands and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

_So beautiful. Those big, blue eyes make me as weak in the knees today as they ever have._

She reached up and covered his hands with her own. "You're just saying that."

He shook his head. "It's true. No matter how sick you get Celeste, you'll always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me."

"What did I do to deserve you, Clarence?" Celeste wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest. "I can't believe you brought him home to me. This means so much. The idea that I might have died without ever seeing my child again..."

Clarence pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "You're not going to die, baby."

She laughed bitterly. "Tell that to my doctors."

"I did," he said, point blank. "You have Stage 4 cancer. Some people make it through."

_Please make it through._

"Yeah, I know. '5%'," she said, quoting her doctors. "You and I both know that's a death sentence."

"Yes, for 95% of the population. You, my dear, are the crème de la crème. You always have been and this is no different," he said, wishing he had the power to ease her worry. "I love you, Celeste, more than I've loved anything, and you're the strongest person I know."

_Please be strong._

Celeste smiled as tears pricked her eyes and she leaned in to kiss Clarence once again. "You're the only bright spot I've had in my life since Lilly died. You know that, don't you?"

"The feeling, my dear, is mutual," he said.

"Why is it that when I'm finally happy, God wants to take it all away from me?" she asked earnestly. "It's all so bleak."

_If I could trade places with you, I would._

Clarence pulled a tissue from the night table and wiped her eyes with it. "Taking care of bleak problems is my specialty, and this is job #1."

Celeste nodded. "I know. I know. It's just so hard."

"Well, at least one thing will be better today." He stood up and pressed his lips to hers one more time. "I'm going to go see where he is right now."

She dabbed the corners of her eyes with the tissue and took a deep breath. "You're right. My baby is here, and I can't have him see me looking like something the dog found in the back yard," she said as she reached for her compact mirror.

Clarence gave her a lopsided smile and forced himself from her room, his insides perennially heavy with the tight knot of concern he'd been lugging around over the last two years.

* * *

Duncan and Gory approached the oversized front door and rang the bell, which played a New York Philharmonic Orchestra recording of the Puccini aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" as it's chime.

Gory glanced at Duncan, who just shrugged. "My mother loves opera."

* * *

Inside the house, Clarence observed on a monitor as the maid let them enter through the front door.

"Sorokin," he said, annoyed by the unexpected appearance of Duncan's tag-along guest. Receiving a visit from the boyfriend of the woman you kidnapped the day before, wasn't exactly a fantastic omen.

_Nobody invited you, you fucking moron. Does he really think acting the hero in this scenario is a smart move? I appreciate the bravery, but he must know he's not exactly going to outplay me. I've only been outsmarted by one person in my life, and she's been out of practice in this arena since she botched her last big job._

A flash of movement on one of the other screens caught Clarence's attention and he leaned in to investigate.

"Veronica Mars, you little pest," he said with a hint of admiration.

He watched closely as she ran through the backyard and crawled through the doggy door.

_You're persistent, I'll give you that, but the doggy door again? You sorely need a new bag of tricks. Well, at least I'll__ catch you in the act this time._

Wiedman strolled out of the security room with a smile on his face.

* * *

Mac pulled herself through the doggy door of the Kane's mansion, careful not to catch her wig on the door flap as it passed over her head.

_At this point yesterday, I did not think I would be committing a felony B&E. The things I do for you, Bond. _

She rose to her feet and walked swiftly down the corridor toward what she believed to be Jake Kane's study.

_Veronica said to walk quickly, but what if I'm walking too fast?_

Mac reached the heavy, carved oak door of the study and placed her hand tentatively on the knob.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a deep baritone called from down the hallway, freezing Mac in her tracks.

* * *

Veronica and Weevil zipped through the dense brush in the back of the Kane lot. The trees were lush and exotic, and had overgrown since the last photo was posted by Google. It was a part of the property that was not obviously theirs, due to it's dearth of landscaping, which contrasted sharply with the meticulously manicured lawns immediately surrounding the house.

_This would be a good place to hide a kidnapping victim...or a body...or a buried treasure! Lilly and I would have had so much fun here when we were little. Sad she'll never get to see it._

"I feel like Robinson Motherfucking Carusoe," Weevil said, wiping the maze of blood zigzagging down his scratched up arms onto his jeans.

"Oh, Eli." Veronica bit her lip with empathy. "You didn't tell me you were an indoor cat. I always took you for a stray."

He tsked angrily. "Shut the fuck up, Mars."

_You are too easy._

Veronica held her unscathed arms above her as a mea culpa. "No, it's cute. You're kind of like The Town Mouse from Aesop's Fables," she said.

Weevil lifted his head to glare at her. "I guess that makes you The Cunt..." Before he could finish the insult, his face lit up and he jerked his head, indicating for Veronica to look behind her.

Half-disappearing into the landscape was a giant stone cottage, covered entirely in green moss, which camouflaged it against the greenery in the background, hiding it almost completely.

Veronica turned her head and gasped loudly.

_Woah! Was that just there a second ago?_

"This is some storybook shit. What do you think that thing is?" asked Weevil with hesitation.

Veronica stared at the structure for a moment, amazed with it's ability to look both frightening and charming at the same time, much like Rapunzel's tower or the gingerbread house where the witch lived in Hansel and Gretel.

"Brigadoon," she said with authority. "This _has _to be Brigadoon."

_Logan would be so pissed off he's missing this!_

"Just when I think you can't get any crazier..." Weevil shook his head with mirth and made his way over to his partner. "I'll take the South side," he said, and pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans.

* * *

**A/N – I know you're all asking yourselves - "Where is Dick?" and "Celeste and Clarence are together? WTF?" (were you shocked?) All of those questions will be answered soon, I promise :)**

**I can't believe how many more favs and alerts showed up over the weekend! I'm really happy there are so many of you out there who are enjoying this and taking the time to leave comments. I love them all - especially the detailed reviews, which are so helpful, so thank you so much!**


	29. Chapter 29

**I'm really glad so many of you were surprised by my little twist! Upon my millionth viewing of season 1, I thought to myself, 'CW sure does a lot of little favors for Celeste that Jake doesn't know about (sniper photos, following VM to Barstow, etc)'. Who better to cheat with than the one guy who can hide anything from anybody?**

* * *

**CHAPTER 29**

Twigs and branches popped and crackled under Veronica's feet as she circled the stone cottage looking for an entrance. The entire building seemed completely inaccessible, except for two small windows on the 2nd floor and the squat, pebbled chimney perched on top.

The air smelled like wet grass with a hint of mold, which Veronica found oddly pleasant. Other than storming an abandoned field at 2am, she barely had any time to experience the outdoors while she was working at Quantico. She expected as much, seeing as her job uniform consisted entirely of tailored, neutral-toned suits and leather flats, but she didn't realize how much she'd actually miss nature until it was gone from her daily life.

"I've got some light experience, but breaking into houses is really more your thing, Goldielocks." Weevil ran his hands all over the outside of the rough wall, but couldn't seem to find a hinge or seam anywhere. "Little pig, little pig, let me in..." he growled to his own amusement while rapping lightly on the dense stone exterior, in hopes of locating a camouflaged lever.

_Where is Inigo Montoya's sword when you need it? I could use a little bit of Inigo's dead father's guidance right about now. I mean, it did help him find the 'man in black'..._

Veronica held the barrel of her Colt .45 parallel to her forehead and closed her eyes. "Father, I cannot do it alone. Please, guide my sword..." she said in a comically bad Catalan accent.

Weevil laughed at her. "What are you doin' now, freak show?"

"It worked in the 'Princess Bride'," she said with a shrug. "Do you see those two windows over there?" she asked, pointing to the twin Juliet balconies.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Based on the position of those windows, where would you put a door?" Veronica asked.

Weevil considered it for a moment and took a step back. "Unfortunately, I left my drafting table in my other pants, but...I don't know. Over there, maybe?" he said, gesturing to the area equidistant beneath the two.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Why don't you stay out here and check around that area for a bit. See if you can find a lever or switch or something that might activate the door," she said. "And remember Weevil, if you have to force it, you're not doing it right," she said, shooting him a wanton look.

"Ha. Ha," he grumbled. "And what are you going to be doing while I'm out here feeling up this wall?"

The strain of soft music began to waft over them.

_If I leave here tomorrow  
Would you still remember me  
For I must be travelin' on now  
There's too many places I got to see  
_

Veronica put her hand up to stop him from speaking further. "Do you hear that?"

His brow creased as he tried to identify the song currently emanating from within the cottage walls. "Sounds like white boy music. Is that Lynyrd Skynyrd?"

She leaned her head against the wall and listened closely for a moment.

_If I stay here with you girl  
Things just couldn't be the same  
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now  
And this bird you cannot change  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh  
_

_I think I had sex to this song in college. I'm willing to bet my parents definitely did. Okay, yuck. Why did you have to go there, Veronica?_

"And the bird you cannot change..." she sang quietly along with the music. "It is Skynyrd. 'Freebird', to be exact," she said, then turned to look at her partner with a question in her eyes.

"Would you be playing music if you had a kidnapping victim locked in there?" Weevil posited.

"Kidnappers gotta get their funk on too, Weevs," Veronica said in deadpan. "Yeah, a normal kidnapper wouldn't be sending out a signal to let you know where to find them, even a signal as rockin' as 'Freebird'. But nothing about this has been normal, you know? For all we know, that could be Jake Kane jamming in there with a joint and a bunch of his web programmer buddies."

Weevil looked at the formidable building and frowned. "How are you gonna get all the way up to the window, though?" he asked with mild concern.

Veronica pulled the clip out of the body of her gun and secured both in one of the zipped pockets of her cargo pants, then rolled up her sleeves. "Be prepared to fall in love with me a little bit," she said, as she made her way over to the wall and began to climb it handily.

_Thank you, FBI obstacle course for busting my ass while I was at the academy. I always did wonder what practical use would warrant us being forced to attack the climbing wall every day at 7am. I stand corrected, Quantico._

"Shit, girl. You've got mad skills," Weevil said, then moved closer and eyed her behind shamelessly as she ascended.

"Stop checking out my ass and go check out that wall for a door, you pervert. And don't forget to buy it dinner first," she grumbled, as she lifted herself to the balcony. Her breathing sped up as she strained to keep her footing. "I'm good at climbing, but my repelling skills suck."

"You've managed to piss off half of Neptune, chica. I think your repelling skills are just fine," he said as he fumbled around the walls, looking for a loose rock.

Veronica grabbed onto the ledge of the narrow terrace and pulled herself up onto it, then pushed the window inward until she felt it give. With the window ajar, the music inside got louder.

_And if I stay here with you girl  
Things just couldn't even be the same  
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now  
And this bird you cannot change_

_'Freebird' has got to be the longest song ever recorded. How is this still playing? If the kidnapper is actually inside and playing this, he's got to be either a middle-aged parent or a young pothead. Finally an activity teens can do with their parents._

Weevil looked up to check on his friend and she gave him the thumbs up, then opened the window completely and lowered herself inside.

* * *

Mac reached the heavy, carved oak door of the study and placed her hand tentatively on the knob.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a deep baritone called from down the hallway, freezing her in her tracks.

It was Clarence Wiedman. Mac remembered that voice from the recording of the anonymous tip Veronica had her analyze during the Abel Koontz investigation. The look on her friend's face at the moment she recognized Wiedman's voice was enough of a reason for the hair on the back of Mac's neck to snap to attention.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!_

Mac could feel her spine straighten and her hands grow cold as she worked hard keep her composure. She knew what she had to do, mainly because it was the only thing she could do in this scenario. She would stall as long as she could, and then stand back and let the reckoning ensue.

With her back still to Wiedman, Mac cleared her throat before she spoke. "I - -"

"Just the guy I've been looking for," a different male voice called from further down the hall.

Clarence spun around to face the interloper and sighed his annoyance. "I don't remember us having an appointment, Mr. Sorokin."

Mac used this momentary distraction to slip inside of Jake's study. She looked around frantically for a laptop or Kane's desk computer.

From the other side of the door, Mac could hear a muffled face-off ensue between the two men.

"You know why I'm here, Wiedman. Where's Katya?" Gory asked in a threatening tone.

"I assume you're referring to Ms. Petrenko?" Wiedman asked, his voice dripping with contempt for the younger man.

Mac rifled through Kane's belongings and came upon his laptop, hidden beneath a false bottom in one of the drawers. She pulled a hairpin from her wig and used it to pry the hard drive from the unit, then replaced it in the desk. She then stuffed the loot down the back of her underwear and zipped her hoodie to conceal the item.

_Normally, I might be concerned about hacking into Jake Kane's hard drive because of the crack security system it would be likely to have, but considering I'm the one who designed said 'crack' security system, it should be no harder than pulling the lid off of a Tupperware container. _

"I'm not fucking around with you, Wiedman. I know you took her. You tased Navarro and he's on my payroll. You didn't think he be able to ID'd you?" Gory asked, with escalating hostility. "You double-crossed me, asshole. You were supposed to help us get out of the country."

"That's not _exactly_ how I remember our conversation, going," Wiedman said. "You were supposed to deliver Duncan to Petrenko first."

Mac's activity stilled as she took in this tidbit.

"I don't get why you'd want to give him over to Petrenko. Don't you need him to prevent Kane's monster lawsuit?" Gory asked.

"It's none of your business why I wanted him delivered to Petrenko. Your business was just to get him there in one piece," Clarence said.

"Yeah, well _you_ said you were going to get Katya out of the country, but instead you kidnapped her. You said you were a man of your word..." Gory said, ranting as he stormed loudly back and forth through the hallway.

"What makes you think I won't still make that happen for you?" Wiedman asked.

Gory laughed bitterly. "Oh, I don't know...maybe because YOU FUCKING KIDNAPPED MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Mac nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Gory's explosion. She ran to the bay windows, wrenched them open, then grabbed a letter opener from the top of Kane's desk and used it to carve a hole in the protective screening.

"You need to calm down, Mr. Sorokin," Clarence said, completely unfazed by the outburst.

"Calm down! Calm down? Are you fucking insane? I'll calm down when I see Katya. And she'd better be unharmed. Now where is she?" Gory shouted, panic working its way through his veins like an embolism.

Mac eyed the escape route she created behind Jake Kane's desk.

_Man, I'm tempted to hightail it out of here, but this joint is bigger than the San Diego Zoo, only with more security cameras. There's no way I'm making it out of here unscathed if I try to run for it._

Her eyes scanned the room quickly and fell upon an intricately-carved, mahogany armoire.

_That looks about my size._

* * *

Logan held Lilly tightly against him and prayed that the person on the other side of the closet door was friend and not foe.

Lilly curled up into herself, nearly disappearing between Logan's legs like an exotic, blonde turtle. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of her head, then quietly urged her to stay silent.

"Shh...shh..." he hushed rhythmically into her ear to soothe her.

_I have to get us out of this. This poor little girl has been through enough for such a short life. She deserves more than the damaged, fucked up existence she's inherited. Even if it kills me, I swear she's going to look back on her childhood with fondness. I don't care what it costs me._

He wanted to blame Duncan, but knew deep down that even if he hadn't run, Lilly still would have had a heavy cross to bear. Her choice was between living with her abusive, oppressive grandparents or a dangerous life on the run pursued by criminals - neither sounded like a good shake to him.

_At least with Duncan, she has one parent who is willing to (and did) give up everything to protect her._

Logan thought of Veronica and a smile formed. He knew he shouldn't be happy about Duncan's predicament, but the fact was, if his best friend hadn't left town, Logan may never have gotten a chance to be with her again. It was selfish, but that was just another reason he was glad that Duncan was the kind of dad who would sacrifice anything for his child.

The door handle rattled loudly and Lilly clung to his chest. He had to keep her safe.

_If anything happened to her... _

Logan shook the dark thoughts from his head and focused on the little girl he surrounded like a human cocoon. Her resemblance to her Aunt had initially been unsettling for him, but not anymore. Little Lilly was tangible evidence that his Lilly's spirit lived on, that she once _was._ And, even though he wasn't able to protect Lilly the first time around, he could protect this small morsel of her that was left.

The lock was picked, and the last scrap protecting them from the the outside world finally swung open, revealing a hulking shadow in its frame.

It had been hours since Logan's eyes had been exposed to light, so the sudden burst of brightness blinded him like a photo flash. His eyes crinkled as he tried to focus, but the only thing he could see were shadows and shapes.

"Are you okay, sir? Is the girl okay?" the giant golem standing above them asked.

Lilly burrowed further into Logan's stomach and he brought his hand to his forehead for shade. "Are you a cop?"

"Firefighter. We've been doing rounds from the top down, checking for the source of the fire, floor-by-floor. This was the last level left to check," the man said.

_Halle-fucking-lujah! _

"Did you find anything?" Logan asked with manufactured concern.

"Not yet, but you should probably get out of here, in case the fire is electrical. These kinds of things usually start in the basement where the fuse box is kept," he explained.

"Oh," Logan said, still somewhat disoriented by the sudden sensory ambush.

"What are you doing down here anyway? Is she okay?" the firefighter asked, pointing at Lilly with a furrowed brow.

Logan needed to think fast - luckily for him, his years of truancy had provided him with a wealth of practice. "She's not, actually. I think she may have eaten something off, because she was vomiting all night and she's weak. I didn't want to move her, but the fire alarm rang, you know? I figured if it was the real deal, we'd be able to get out faster from down here, but I didn't want to drag her outside and make her wait on the pavement when she was feeling so horrible," he said, appealing to the fireman with his eyes. "You know how they can be when they're sick?"

The fireman smiled. "Yeah. I got two of my own. How old is yours?"

_He's buying this crock of shit? Wow. Not even my best work by a mile. _

"Seven," Logan said, and kissed the top of Lilly's head for good measure. "Yours?"

"My son is five and my little girl is three," he answered.

The rescue worker crouched down and laid a hand on Lilly's back. "Hey, beautiful. I hear you're not feeling so hot."

Lilly wordlessly nodded with a pitiful expression on her delicate face.

"What's your name, honey?" he asked, as he rubbed soft circles on her back.

Before Logan could open his mouth to answer, Lilly piped up from behind his thigh.

"Molly," she whispered, as though she barely had the energy to speak.

_Wow. This kid is on the ball. She'd make a stellar grifter. Maybe Duncan will let me borrow her for a weekend trip to Vegas when this is all through?_

"You feeling a little sick, Molly?" the fireman asked in a baby voice.

Lilly's eyes darted to Logan's and he thought he could detect a subtle eye roll. "Yeah. My tummy doesn't feel so good," she said with a pout, then began to work up some synthetic tears. Her performance was Oscar-worthy.

"Do you feel sick enough to see a doctor?" the fireman asked sweetly.

Her tiny blonde head swiveled to the right and she deferred to Logan.

"I think that's probably for the best," Logan said, with the stoic mien of a father pained by his daughter's suffering. "But maybe they could bring the ambulance around to the back parking lot? I think the less we move her the better. She's really been through the ringer enough already."

"Of course, sir. I'll just be out in the hallway, calling it in," he said, gesturing out of the room.

"Thank you, sir," a limpet-eyed and tear-strained Lilly strained to cough out.

The moment the fireman left the closet, the little girl turned to Logan and winked.

Logan's urge to grin was so great, that he had to turn away.

_Did she just fucking WINK at me? How did this evil little genius come from parents as sweet and boring as Meg and Duncan? She's more like the product of an Echolls-Mars union than the offspring of Manning and Kane. _

It was at that moment, that an idea lodged itself in the base of Logan's brain and began to grow. Like a sponge, it seemed to suck up everything around it and grow larger and more all-consuming until it threatened to overtake his insides and burst free.

_I want a kid? Did my sleep-deprived brain really just puke this thought out? Jesus Logan, you really have it bad. You're one picnic date away from buying an ovulation monitor, you pussy. _

Logan had never considered himself father material, for obvious reasons, the main one being that the only person he'd ever have considered breeding with left town without a trace many years ago. However, Veronica was back now, and he wasn't the same fuck-up he once was, years of intensive therapy had ensured that. Having a child, being a dad, all of that was suddenly back on the table now.

_Until Veronica decides to pull the table cloth out from under it._

He rubbed a rough hand over his face and looked down at Lilly. "Have you ever been to Vegas, kid?"

* * *

Contrary to what most people thought, Dick Casablancas was not an idiot. Both his brother and father were diabolically brilliant, in every sense of the word, and he swam in the same gene pool, so even if he didn't measure up to their standards, he was far brighter than those who knew him assumed.

Sure, it bothered Dick, but never enough for him to do anything about it. Mainly, because he didn't have to. After all, he was filthy rich (though through no effort of his own), and the personal freedom afforded to him by that wealth was staggering.

He had the freedom to use his mental resources to focus on things that didn't involve the daily grind of day-to-day survival. He could tackle big picture issues like world famine and ethnic cleansing. He also had the freedom to not give a fuck about anything, and that's what he chose to do. He figured, if time was money, then what was the rush? He had all the time that money could buy.

As long as the beer was cold and the women were pretty, Dick wasn't really one to complain. He never wondered why he was here, what he was supposed to do with his life, or what would happen after he died. Those life questions had fleetingly crossed his mind, of course, but he wasn't one to ruminate about stuff he couldn't control...

...until the day his brother jumped off the roof of the Neptune Grand. Money couldn't do anything to stave off the disturbing thoughts he had never faced before. His endless free time only made his torture worse. For a while, in fact, he could have sworn that time was actually standing still.

Beaver's suicide definitely fell into the category of things that Dick couldn't control. For the first time in his life, he actually did muse about his purpose. He thought about it a lot. And the more answers he was able to tease out, the more questions that seemed to spring up in their place.

That's when Dick Casablancas, much to his own chagrin, became a deep thinker. Knowing that, it shouldn't have surprised him that fateful day at the beach, when he came across Mac and finally saw the things that Beaver always recognized in her. He just wasn't looking at her in the right way before. Like looking at the Mona Lisa with the wrong glasses on, she was colorful, but he didn't understand the subtleties that made her great. Once he got the right prescription lenses, his vision was corrected and he could finally see everything clearly – and he was shocked to discover how fucking beautiful he found her.

When he approached Mac on the beach, looked into her alarmed eyes and apologized for being an asshole, the longest pause of his life followed. There was so much going on behind her eyes, he could barely keep up, but whatever was happening back there was fascinating.

He saw a flash of something important in her face, but he wasn't quite sure how to identify it yet. When she finally answered answered him - 'Yeah, okay' - and gave him a cautious smile, it was like looking at his own Mona Lisa, and he spent the next five years trying to figure out what that smile really meant.

The steady beat from a heart monitor dinged reliably in the background as a man in a white lab coat changed the bag on Dick's IV stand.

The patient was pale from blood loss, and wore a blood soaked bandage around the upper half of his bare chest and right shoulder, but his heartbeat was strong.

Boris walked into the small room and shut the door behind him. "The boss want to know how is he."

The doctor turned around and shook his head with amazement. "I'm honestly surprised he's still alive with the amount of blood loss he's had. If he weren't so young and fit, we would have been zipping him into a PVC bag by now. He's not out of the woods though, he still needs a blood transfusion."

Boris shook his head. "Blood transfusion means going to hospital, and that means trouble."

The doctor began to remove Dick's soiled bandage. "It doesn't have to. I could just - -"

"Just what? You have no medical license, Dr. Griffith. The hospital only give blood to real doctors," he said insistently. "You fix him with what we have here."

Tom Griffith pushed his glasses back on his nose and exhaled. "I'll do my best, but no promises. I'm not used to working like this."

"You not used to working at all," Boris said. "Not since the sheriff locked up your little Irish friends."

The doctor smiled tightly and bowed his head. "Like I said, I'll do my best."

* * *

_Holy shit. Lilly?_

Duncan nearly tripped on the edge of a planter as he was taken off guard by a four foot tall canvas of his sister Lilly.

He gasped, and irrationally tried to reach out to touch the painting. He knew it was crazy, but for one brief moment it was almost like she was right there with him.

_It feels like a lifetime ago. My life has changed so much since you've been gone, maybe because you were gone, that I barely recognize myself sometimes. I go by Daniel now. I have no doubt you'd find that hilarious._

Duncan glanced at his own portrait, which barely resembled him in his current incarnation, then turned back to Lilly's picture and smiled. If he stared hard enough, he could almost imagine his own Lilly Kane looking nearly the same when she turns 16.

_But less creepy, because...damn, if that picture doesn't look possessed. My God. My daughter is nearly half as old now as you were when you were killed. I can't even imagine..._

He scrubbed all morbid thoughts from his brain and choked back his tears. "Everybody's still talking about you, Lil. You always said your personality was so big that even if you died, we'd still feel you rocking the afterlife from over here. Well, as usual, you were right about everything."

Duncan pressed his fingers to his lips and kissed them.

_Rock on, Lil._

He continued down the hallway until he reached what he believed to be the master bedroom of his parent's new home. The door was slightly ajar, and a faint blue light spilled generously through the gap in the door.

Duncan could feel his heartbeat cantering in his chest, and his hands growing increasingly clammy and cold with nerves. He touched his fingertips to the outside of the door, but couldn't bring himself to push.

_She's just your mom, man, she loves you. _

His consciousness was heightened, yet his body was as frozen as a quadriplegic's.

_You were a zombie when Lilly died and it got you nowhere. You can't numb-out every time something bad happens. You're a dad now. A really good dad. Show her the kind of man she raised. Prove to her that she did one thing right in her unhappy life. Everybody deserves to have at least that._

Duncan pushed the door open, but his feet remained glued to the ground.

"Duncan?" Celeste called apprehensively from beyond the door. "Duncan...is that you?"

He took a deep breath and walked into the room. "Yeah, mom. I'm home."

Celeste stood to greet him with tears in her eyes. "This is the happiest day of my life," she said, looking at him with wonder.

At his mother's words, Duncan could feel his whole body relax and he quickly closed the distance between them. "I missed you, mom."

_I didn't realize it until now, but I really did._

Celeste nearly collapsed into her son's arms under the weight of her emotion. "You did? You really missed me?"

_She's as light as a feather now._

He ran one of his hands down the back of her robe and could feel the bones protruding. He felt sick from dread and tried to shake the feeling of fear that crept into his bones like fungus. "Of course I missed you. You're my mom. You only get one of those, you know."

* * *

Veronica hopped down from the window sill and tried to get her bearings. Her eyes swept the second floor for signs of Katya or the kidnapper, but there was nobody there. The upper level of the house was barren and dark, except for a few cardboard boxes filled with clothes and books. For a passing moment, she wondered if the Kanes had kept any of Lilly's things. It had been so long, but how to you throw out the last vestiges of your own child?

'Freebird' finally ended, and Veronica hid behind a thick wooden beam to wait it out until the next track started. Without the sound cover, she knew that every step she made would ricochet off the stone walls like a rubber jacks ball. Though house was much smaller on the inside than she expected, the double height ceilings and exposed wood beams turned the space that did exist into an echo chamber.

Much to Veronica's relief, the next song began immediately. 'Tuesday's Gone' started to play, and fast filled the dead air with much needed ambient noise.

_More Skynyrd. Well, they may be criminals, but at least they have good taste in music. They're sure to be the hit of Cell Block H._

_Train roll on, on down the line,  
Won't you please take me far, far away.  
Now I feel the wind blow, outside my door,_

_I'm leavin' my woman at home, oh yeah.  
_

_Am I smelling hamburgers? Damn! This is the last time I break into somebody's house on an empty stomach. Seriously though, hamburgers? Is it wrong of me to envy Katya right now? All her dad ever fed me in captivity was luke warm potato pierogies. _

Veronica assembled her gun and gingerly stole her way to the staircase.

_Tuesday's gone with the wind,  
My baby's gone, gone with the wind. _

From the top of the stairs, she caught a glimpse of Katya. She was bound to a chair, but otherwise looked okay. In fact, she looked more than okay, she looked great.

Veronica furrowed her brow and watched as Katya threw her head back and laughed loudly at something the kidnapper just said.

_What the fuck? Was she kidnapped by Dave Chapelle? I don't remember my kidnapping being so enjoyable. Hamburgers and Dave Chapelle actually sounds like a fantastic day out, if you ask me. Damn. Now I'm getting hungry again._

As Veronica reached the halfway point on the staircase, she drew Katya's eye, and relief slowly spread across the Slav's perfect features like honey.

Veronica signaled for Katya to stay quiet, and the prisoner subtly nodded, though her eyes darted quickly in the direction of her warden. Katya tried desperately to lift her index finger, but both hands were tied too tightly. Instead, she looked pointedly at Veronica and mouthed the word 'one'.

_Only one perp, eh? As far as kidnapping victims go, you are tops in my book, sister! Actually, you also kind of rock as a kidnapper too._

_And I don't know, oh, where I'm goin'.  
I just want to be left alone.  
When this train ends, I'll try again.  
I'm leavin' my woman at home. _

_My baby's gone._

Veronica thanked her with a look and silently alighted the remaining stairs. She lifted her gun to her chest and readied herself for a fight. Though she had done this scores of other times before, the rush of nerves she experienced just before performing a bust was as reliable as a German train schedule.

_To quote Papa Bear: Here we go, yo!_

She could hear a person humming along with the music, and something about it sounded oddly familiar to her. Just as she rounded the corner, she caught sight of the kidnapper's silhouette and it stopped her cold.

_Holy. Fuck._

Veronica stared mutely at the kidnapper and tried desperately to catch her breath. "Mom?"

It had been six years since she'd last laid eyes on her mother, but the pain was still as fresh as a lemon and just as biting.

At the sound of Veronica's voice, Lianne Mars spun around wildly and her mouth fell open in shock. "Veronica?"

* * *

**A/N – I'm going on a little trip to Vegas with my family until Wednesday, so I'm afraid I won't be posting anything until (most likely) late next week. Please don't kill me for leaving you with a cliffhanger for so long. I appreciate all of you who are still reading – hope everybody is continuing to dig the story!**

**I'm building toward a climax, which should be happening very soon and will bring LoVe back together (I'm aware the scenes with them together are more interesting than the others). I'm wondering if the story is losing steam or it's boring you, etc. and would love to hear your thoughts. **

**I'm a screenwriter, not a fiction writer, and I've been using FF to practice and improve my prose skills, so if something is good/bad/ugly, I am eager to know what does/not work (in a gentle way, please). It helps me know if I'm on track or failing miserably. Anyway, reviews and feedback are_ not _expected or demanded, just very much appreciated :)**

**Thanks again for reading/reviewing/favoriting/alerting.**

**FYI - Hannah will NOT be back, so do not worry. LoVe will not be breaking up!**


	30. Author's Note - Plot Roundup

RedJane12 helpfully suggested that I provide a little roundup of events, so that people can keep track of all of the twists and who is working together. I thought it was a great idea, so here ya go:

1) Gory hires Mars Investigations to tail his 'wife' because he suspects she's cheating

2) Veronica returns to town and works at MI with Weevil, who now runs it. He sends her to do the job without telling her who hired them

3) While on the stake out, Veronica recognizes the 'boyfriend' of Gory's 'wife' as Logan

4) Shots are fired into the hotel room and the woman is killed

5) Veronica saves Logan from the Ukrainian hitman

6) Veronica visits Gory because she suspects he may be behind hit

7) Veronica discovers that the 'wife' was really a call girl who was sent to set up Logan for the hit. She drugged Dick and then seduced Logan to get him up to the room

8) Gory denies knowledge but hires her to find out who is impersonating him

9) Dick gives Veronica a matchbook from 'The Red Room', a Ukrainian mob hangout, that the hooker wrote her number on for him

10) Veronica and Logan make up after a long time apart, and her outlook on their relationship has changed, but he still isn't sure he believes he's what brought her back to town

11) Gory has a meeting at The Red Room and offers to bring Veronica so she can ask around the club to find out who hired the hooker. Gory's meeting turns out to be with Clarence Wiedman. Wiedman wants Veronica to help him 'find Duncan Kane'

12) The owner of the club, Alexei Petrenko, is the owner of a rival tech company to Kane Software and takes a particular interest in Mac, because she was the chief programmer of the 'MacGuffin' security software that Kane produces (and also, he wants to have sex with her)

13) Veronica is kidnapped by Petrenko and forced to contact Duncan to bring him home, because Petrenko also wants to locate Duncan

14) Based on a hunch (Keith discovers that cross-lawsuits were filed between Petrenko and Kane), Keith/Logan/Weevil/Gory meet with Jake Kane/Wiedman to find out what his connection to everything is. Jake tells Keith that Celeste is dying of cancer, which is why Wiedman had been trying to find him

15) Logan/Dick/Mac figure out that Kane & Petrenko are engaged in possible billion dollar lawsuit over patent infringement and Jake Kane's patents are in Duncan's name - if Petrenko finds Duncan, he can either kill him or coerce/bribe him into signing over or discontinuing the patents, which would bankrupt Jake Kane

16) Duncan and Lilly return to Neptune and are kidnapped by Petrenko

17) Petrenko's daughter Katya is Veronica's warden, and they become friends. She frees Veronica and helps her smuggle Lilly out with her

18) Wallace helps Logan (who has Mac's phone) and Veronica take Lilly out of the area, and LoVe drives North for a few hours to hide

19) Duncan escapes (with a lock pick Veronica slid under his door) and hides in Dick's car. When Dick and Mac try to drive home, Duncan appears behind them and asks them to help him

20) Turns out, Gory had been working both sides, because he is in love with Petrenko's daughter Katya. He agreed to hire Mars Investigations on Petrenko's behalf to curry favor with her dad, but he didn't know about the hit set-up. Petrenko wanted to find Veronica (who 'vanished' from the grid after she joined the FBI), and using Gory's intel about her connection to Logan, he figured that he would smoke her out by wounding/killing Logan, knowing she could surface if he was in trouble. Petrenko then double-crossed Gory by forbidding him to be with his daughter, even though he helped him. Pissed off, Gory turned to Wiedman to offer assistance, in an attempt to ruin Petrenko

21) Mac tracks her phone using GPS and they catch up with Logan/Veronica/Lilly at the hotel. Mac hooks up with Dick and Duncan/Logan make up, even though Duncan is still in love with Veronica. Veronica confesses to Logan the real reason she left the FBI, which was because she majorly botched a job and a girl was killed - which made her reevaluate her life and what made her happy...and she realized it was Logan who made her happy

22) Petrenko leaves a message on Mac's phone, asking her to meet him

23) Gory (with Weevil's help) helps Katya run away, and Gory asks Wiedman to help him escape the country with Katya. He agrees, but demands that Gory deliver Duncan to Petrenko first

24) Wiedman tasers Weevil and kidnaps Petrenko's daughter Katya

25) Veronica and Co. decide to return to Neptune to rescue Katya and question Jake Kane and Wiedman. Mac debates meeting up with Petrenko. Logan and Dick stay in the hotel to keep Lilly safe from the action, though they are ambushed by Petrenko's henchman, who shoots Dick. Logan and Lilly are able to get away

26) It turns out that Clarence Wiedman has been sleeping with Celeste for the past few years and she had asked him to bring Duncan home

27) Mac (disguised as Veronica) breaks into the Kane house to distract Wiedman from the real Veronica (disguised as Mac), who is also trespassing on Kane property. When Wiedman is distracted by Gory (demanding to see his girlfriend), Mac slips into Jake's office and steals his hard drive, then hides in an armoire

28) Veronica locates Katya in a guest cottage on Kane Property and is shocked to discover that the warden in charge of watching her is her own mother, Lianne, whom she hasn't seen in years

.

This is where we are at the moment. I must admit, the plot looks completely confusing and absurd all written out like that, but I promise I'm going to be tying all of these loose threads together, and you'll get answers to questions, such as:

- Who is Clarence really doing the bidding for?

- Why does Clarence want to give Duncan to Petrenko when he supposedly brought Duncan home to be with Celeste?

- How is Lianne involved in all of this?

- How much does Duncan know and what isn't he saying?


	31. Chapter 31

**Okay, I underestimated the amount of writing time I'd have in Vegas. Turns out, when you're sharing a room with two little boys, you don't get to put on a slinky dress and blow on James Bond's dice. So, you're getting this one earlier than expected :)**

**Perhaps, as a response to me posting this monster-sized chapter so quickly, you can make my boring evenings trapped in this hotel room more bearable by providing_ me_ with some of my own reading material - in the form of (you guessed it) chapter reviews! Shameless pandering, I know, but Vegas is making me take the risk...also, I'm super bored. I can't even watch tv or it will wake the little guys. Have pity on me and review.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 31 (this is really chapter 30, but I didn't want to confuse you with conflicting chapter labels) **

Previously:

_Holy. Fuck._

_Veronica stared mutely at the kidnapper and tried desperately to catch her breath. "Mom?"_

_It had been six years since she'd last laid eyes on her mother, but the pain was still as fresh as a lemon and just as biting._

_At the sound of Veronica's voice, Lianne Mars spun around wildly and her mouth fell open in shock. "Veronica?"_

.

Lianne Mars gripped the side of the stove for support and burned her hand "Shit!"

Not sure if it was the smell of singed hair or the fact that she was seeing her mother for the first since the last quarter of her life had passed, but Veronica fought hard to bite back a massive surge of nausea that threatened to overtake her.

She brought the heel of her left hand to her mouth and pressed firmly and willed herself to keep the bile at bay. If anybody from back East heard about her barfing in the middle of an operation, she would be hearing about it until her retirement, whether it happens in the next six months or in sixty years.

If there were such a thing as emotional quicksand, Veronica was certain she had just stepped in it. The more she thought about her situation, the more she struggled with her feelings, which only made her sink deeper into the muck. She was pretty sure that at any moment the ground would swallow her up whole, and part of her welcomed the distraction. "Mom? What are you...why?"

Katya looked at Lianne sharply and turned to Veronica. "Ronja. This is your mother? You said she left you."

"She did leave me," Veronica said coldly. "She left home when I was a sophomore in high school. It took me half a year to find her, and when I finally did, she wasn't too keen on rejoining the family. I haven't seen her since since then. "

_And she never tried to find me. Not once._

With the enormity of the situation registered on her face, Katya was stunned into silence.

Lianne turned the cold tap on at the sink and ran her burned palm underneath the stream of chilly water. She focused on her hand as if it were the only thing in the room, clearly trying to delay whatever was going to happen next.

Veronica fortified her resolve and raised her gun. "Turn off the water, mom."

Her mother complied with the order and wrapped a wet tea towel around her hand. "You don't need the gun, sweetheart."

_You lost the right to call me sweetheart years ago. There's nothing between us anymore. You're just a perp who kind of looks like me._

"Have a seat," Veronica said sternly and kicked a chair in Lianne's direction. "Interlock your fingers and place both hands behind your head."

"Is this really necessary?" Lianne asked as she took a seat and connected her hands in back of her.

Veronica looked at her like she was crazy. "You have a kidnapping victim tied up at your dinner table. What the fuck do _you _think?"

Her mother nodded and did as she was told.

Veronica turned off the gas stove and grabbed a large knife from the silverware drawer, then crossed the room to free Katya from her binds. "I'm so sorry, Katya. I – I had no idea."

As the last rope fell off of Katya's wrists, she leapt to her feet and threw one arm around Veronica's neck in an awkward embrace, made even sloppier by the force of her emotion.

_Surprisingly, I really needed that._

Veronica cleared her throat. She couldn't let herself feel gratitude right now. If she let one thing in, the other things might sneak past, and she couldn't deal with all of that right now. "Weevil is waiting just outside of the door. He'll get you out of here safely."

Katya's jaw clenched and she shook her head. "I'm not leaving you with her."

_Goddammit, Katya, this is not the most convenient moment for you to see completely through me!_

Veronica's hard facade cracked and her breath caught in her throat. "I'm okay," she said, though her steely determination was easily belied by the vulnerable look in her eyes. Regardless, she pushed past the angry hornets' nest festering in her gut, and smiled through the pain. She owed Katya that much. "Go on. I'll be fine. Gory is waiting for you outside."

_Please get out of here. I can't do this with you looking at me like that._

Tears fell from Katya's eyes at the mention of her boyfriend's name and she smiled. "He came for me?"

"Into the belly of the beast," Veronica said with a smirk. "Considering who we're talking about, the irony is pretty ridiculous."

Katya hugged Veronica tightly and kissed both of her cheeks. "I will always be like sister to you," she whispered, reminding her of her earlier pledge.

Veronica nodded, though she couldn't risk looking at Katya directly while she was so close to the brink. "Ditto."

Katya walked toward the front door, but just as her hand reached the knob, she turned around to face Lianne. "What make a mother leave her own child?"

_Oh snap. You're a better friend after one week than most of the girls I went to high school with. Lilly Kane would very much approve of you and your giant brass ovaries._

Lianne gasped and shook her head. "I – I – I didn't want to leave her. I didn't! I did it for her own good. I tried so hard, but I was – I was such a mess at the time, and...I tried..."

Katya's face soured into a pout. "No. We have saying in my country, 'For mad dog, seven miles is not a long detour.' It mean that if you feel passion for something important, you will work at it and it will not feel like work to you. This is what is real mother." With that, she turned the knob, opened the front door and walked toward freedom.

_That girl really knows how to make an exit._

Veronica's attention turned back to Lianne. She swallowed thickly, and then frisked her mother for weapons a little more roughly than necessary, before settling into to chair opposite her. "Looks like being a 'kept woman' isn't the cushy job it used to be. In the good old days, all a man expected was for you to let him do everything in bed that his wife wouldn't."

"Ronnie..." her mother said in horror.

Veronica was drowning in a sea of disgust and confusion. "You can take your arms down now, but keep your hands where I can see them." She placed the gun on the table, leaving it casually aimed at her mother's chest.

Lianne placed her hands daintily on her lap and smiled sweetly, if transparently. "I – I didn't realize you were back, honey."

_Of all people, you should know I'm no moron...though I guess I was gullible enough to give you my life savings. In that case, suppose I can't fault you for trying to pull another one over on me. _

She balked at her mom's audacity, then roughly pulled the brunette wig from her own head and plopped it onto the kitchen table. "Yeah well, you also didn't realize I'd even gone, so it all evens out, I suppose..." she said, while pulling the stray bobby pins from her hair that were left behind.

Lianne's eyes misted, as if on cue, and Veronica couldn't help but wonder what part of it, if anything, was real.

One fat teared finally broke free, rolling down the middle-aged blonde's cheek. "I missed - -"

_Fuck you! Seriously. I don't believe a word of it. If you missed me, you would have picked up a damn phone and called me. It's not my problem if it's hard for you to look at yourself in the mirror._

"No." Veronica said tightly, ending the thought, then nearly knocked over her chair with the force of her rise. Like a bitter zoo animal in a poorly managed habitat, she stalked back and forth in front of her mom as her anger strained the confines of her self-control. "Let's save all of the bullshit for the witness stand, shall we? I wouldn't want you to wear yourself out on my account."

Veronica wasn't sure how she should or did feel, and she was even less sure of what she should say, so she relied on the one thing she knew she wouldn't fuck up: her job. She leaned on her training like a new crutch, and before her mother could get a word out, she launched into a series of formal questions.

"How do you know Katya Petrenko?" Veronica asked with a practiced distance.

"I – I - " Lianne stammered, looking genuinely befuddled. "I actually never met her before yesterday. Veronica -"

"How did you come to have her in your possession?" she followed up.

Lianne's face registered her hurt and frustration with her daughter's distance. "Clarence dropped her off and asked if I would keep her here for a few days."

Veronica rubbed her forehead roughly and stifled a laugh. "You did this favor for Clarence Wiedman? The man who took sniper photos of me and then blackmailed you with them?"

Lianne looked at the ground, a pained expression marring her pretty face. "Yes."

_At least you have the decency to look ashamed._

"Did Jake Kane mention why he wanted you to keep Katya here?" she asked.

Lianne's forehead knit as she processed the implications of the question. "Jake doesn't know anything about Katya being here."

Veronica was incredulous at her mother's claim. "Of course he doesn't."

_I get that you love Jake Kane, probably more than you've ever loved anything else in your life, but your continued, dogmatic defense of him borders on insanity. _

_How is she still throwing her life under a bus for that asshole? I've experienced deep, overwhelming love, and I'm self-aware enough now to want to sacrifice almost anything to protect it, but I wouldn't throw myself on the pyre, and Logan would never want me to. Real love doesn't work like that. Real love goes both ways._

Lianne's eyes widened as she realized the depth of Veronica's loathing. "Jake would never -"

Veronica rocketed to her feet. "Just. Stop."

Like an emotional hangover, her head began to spin and she felt her face grow clammy with sweat. Unable to keep herself in check any longer, she leaned over the trash can and vomited her revulsion into the bin.

_Well...that just happened._

"Baby! Are you okay?" Lianne sprang forward to comfort her daughter, triggering Veronica's field instinct to reach for her gun.

With one hand aiming the revolver at her mom and the other one grazing the remaining puke residue off of her lips, Veronica stood tall on her strong but shaky legs. "You have the right to remain silent..."

* * *

In the hallway outside of Jake Kane's study, Wiedman had Gory cornered.

"My patience is wearing thin, Mr. Sorokin," Clarence said, truly exhausted by the conversation.

_If your dad wasn't who he is, I would have tossed you out on your ass by now, and if you don't wrap this up immediately, I still might._

Gory stared at Kane's chief guard dog with a look of disdain that would break lesser men. "Who's team are you playing on anyway, Wiedman?"

Clarence sighed, and tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

_God, this kid is naïve. Good thing he isn't in line to run his dad's business or the family would be fighting off the neighborhood poachers left and right._

"Mine," he said honestly. "Always mine."

"What the hell does that mean?" Gory asked.

"It means I know where my bread is buttered, and who greases my...palm," Clarence said with a smooth ambiguity.

The younger man was perplexed by his words. "It's not that simple."

"It's _always_ that simple. Go home Gory. Trust that one of us knows what we're doing, and wait for further instruction," Wiedman said as he turned to leave.

Gory's strange smile stopped Clarence in his tracks. "I can do that."

Wiedman raised a curious eyebrow.

_What now?_

"Just promise...promise me that you'll always remember this conversation," Gory said. "The assurances you made."

_What is this kid going on about?_

"I'm going to say yes to get you to leave my building, but we both know I'll probably have forgotten you were here the moment your boots hit the driveway. You can see yourself out," Clarence said with a wave of the hand as he made his way to the study. "I'll be in touch," he threw out over his shoulder as he closed the wooden door behind him.

_...and now for an adversary truly worth my time._

Wiedman strolled through the grandly appointed office with aplomb, gliding his palm over the smooth, lacquered top of his boss's 19th century desk. He always admired British furniture makers from this time period, because woodworking back then took time and skill, things weren't just thrown together using whatever was available.

A true master could make something born from the lowly driftwood look like it had come from a flawless block of top-grade lumber, and with the right material, he could create magic, as Michaelangelo had when he carved 'the David' from the finest marble.

_What the-?_

Like a fork that was set out of place, Clarence's eye was immediately drawn to the torn screen behind the majestic desk. As he fingered the frayed edges of the metallic mesh, his mind wandered. He suddenly dropped the material in his hands and knelt at the foot of the timber behemoth.

_You went to too much trouble and risked too much to just leave without getting what you wanted, Veronica._

Finding nothing under the desk, he stood up and walked directly to the closet, flinging open each door along the wall without pretense, in a determined hunt for his white whale.

_'They call me Ishmail...' _he reflexively recited in his head, both amused and irritated by his elusive prey in equal turns.

After exhausting all of the closets, Wiedman turned his attention to the armoire - the only other item in the room large enough to hold something as big as a miniature federal agent - and opened the doors with flourish.

"Nice of you to drop by, Ms. Ma..." he looked closely at the face of the blonde woman huddled in Kane's furniture and sharply exhaled a puff of air. "...MacKenzie. Seems like you've acquired a whole new skill set since we last crossed paths."

_Interesting development. She's one of Mr. Kane's top programmers. What could he possibly have here that she couldn't easily hack into from the comfort of her own apartment?_

Clarence held out his arms to a surprisingly _un_surprised Mac, and helped her climbed out of the armoire.

"Thanks. My legs were starting to cramp a bit," she said, as she brushed herself off and stretched her calves against the leg of the priceless desk.

Wiedman flinched. "To what honor do I owe this extreme pleasure?"

"Oh, you know...why else does a woman sneak into the home of her married boss?" she said with a knowing wink.

_Is it possible to break a bullshit meter or does it just cycle around to the beginning again?_

"You're having an affair with Jake Kane?" Clarence asked with obvious disbelief.

"He is a sexy, sexy older man," Mac said with a straight face.

It was at that moment that Wiedman remembered exactly why he had followed her in the office to begin with.

_Veronica Mars. Moby Dick. My tiny, blonde whale._

"Brown hair really suits you much better, Ms. MacKenzie" he said as he gently removed the wig from her head.

_Why did you want me to think she was you, Veronica?_

From behind Wiedman's silhouette, Mac watched as Gory leaned over and retrieved the hard drive from the flower bed she'd thrown it into earlier. She coughed loudly to ensure her captor's attention remained on her, then observed with caution as he reluctantly cradled the messy nest of synthetic, flaxen hair in his hands.

* * *

As Gory reached the perimeter of the compound, he was greeted by a familiar face. "Sheriff," he said with a nod.

"Gory, it's good to see you playing nicely with the other children," Keith said, his features creased with mirth.

The Ukrainian man shrugged petulantly. "Like I had a choice. My girl is still in there."

Keith's demeanor grew quite serious. "I know, and I hope you know that I'm doing everything in my power to help get her back to you."

_I feel for this kid. As much as I want to punch him in the face sometimes, I also feel for him._

Gory licked his dry lips and let loose an annoyed laugh. "You're out here holding your dick in your hand while your daughter does all of your dirty work for you. If that's 'everything in your power', I'd say that's not a whole hell of a lot."

_This is one of those 'sometimes'._

Keith's face darkened. "You're upset, so I'm going to let that one slide, but you should know that there's a lot of stuff happens behind the scenes that you aren't aware of. It's not my job to run the why's of every detail by you, it's my job to get your girlfriend back safely, and that's what I'm doing."

"If you were so hot to get her back, then why didn't you just storm this place last night with an army?" he challenged. "You knew Wiedman probably took her here."

"You grew up in Neptune?" Keith asked, with a cocked brow. "No, if you did, you wouldn't be asking me such a stupid question. Jake Kane and I have...a...complicated history, to put it mildly. I had to follow protocol, or he could have manufactured a way to have this whole case thrown out on a technicality. I didn't want Katya to miss out on getting justice, just because I've got a beef with the man," he explained as he busied himself tuning his hand radio. "Anyway, why do you care how the sausage gets made?"

_Just eat the damn thing and shut up._

"You're scared of Jake Kane?" Gory taunted.

_Well, the guy has successfully tried to prevent me from being sheriff two times already, and I'm pretty sure Balboa County has a three strikes and you're out policy, but still - the answer is no._

Keith shook his head and tried to hold his temper. "I'm scared of what Jake Kane turns me into. The guy himself is incidental at best. A real man would be able to look another man in the eyes and admit that they've been screwing their wife on the down low for the last 25 years. He's no man."

"Shit...I...obviously, I had no idea." The look of shock on Gory's face was enough to satisfy Keith for the moment, but before the young man could further his apology, they both noticed a statuesque blonde rising from beyond the horizon like 'Venus on the Half Shell'.

Gory's mouth fell open. "Katya! Katya!"

_Thank God._

The kid took off running toward his girl, leaping carelessly over rocks and plants in his path, until he reached his destination. Katya threw herself at him and he caught her handily, lifting her high into the air as she wrapped her long legs around his waist and cried tears of joy into the collar of his shirt.

They shared a bracing kiss and professed words of love to each other that wouldn't be out of place during the last five minutes of the movie 'Titanic'.

Keith signaled Leo to alert the medical personnel and get them to assess Katya's condition. They scrambled over and began to examine her, once they were able to pull the girl off of her boyfriend.

Unwilling to let her go completely, Gory insisted on holding her hand tightly and dutifully followed behind as the EMS workers escorted her to their van. "Thanks, sheriff!" he shouted as he left the area, followed by a loud, victorious woot.

Keith smiled to himself, content that at least one young couple he knew would be getting the happy ending they deserved. He was a sucker for true love, at least he had been ever since that moment Alicia begrudgingly thanked him for ridding her house of her psychotic tenant. He'd never before believed in those thunderstruck 'AHA!' moments people always talked about, but the look on her face as she forced herself to acknowledge his good deed, just slayed him in every way imaginable.

_Please God, bring Logan home to Veronica safely. My baby's lived through enough tragedy for ten lifetimes. Logan, too._

Keith leaned his head back and let the late-morning sun warm his face and uncovered scalp. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend he was back in high school, stoned off his ass at one of those outdoor rock concerts, like CCR, The Allman Brothers or even Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Weevil approached the sheriff with a strange expression that Keith couldn't quite read. "What's up, Eli?"

The PI scratched his bald head and looked furtively out in the distance at nothing in particular. "I don't think I should be the one to tell you."

_No. No. No. No. No..._

Keith could feel his stomach drop. He knew it had to be pretty bad if even Navarro couldn't find the nerve to break it to him. "Veronica? She's-?"

"She's okay! She's fine. Damn. Sorry boss, that was fucked up. I didn't mean to freak you out like that," Weevil said, genuinely contrite.

Keith breathed his relief before casting a nonplussed look at his protegee. "I know you're no Shakespeare, Eli, but you might want to brush up on your conversation skills."

He held both hands aloft. "My bad. I know, it was a dick move. I wasn't thinking."

Keith's gaze focused on a familiar figure looming toward him and released a shuttered exhale. "It's okay, Eli. You're not a dick, you're just an idiot."

_Dick? Idiot? Crap. That reminds me, I still haven't gotten word on Casablancas. What am I going to tell Veronica when she asks?_

"So what was the news that was so bad that you mistakenly lead me to believe the worst?" he asked with a sardonic grin.

Before Weevil could respond, Veronica closed the distance between them, dragging Lianne beside her by a length of kitchen twine she had fashioned into handcuffs.

_Lianne? Fuck! Why should I be surprised? She always was the high priestess of bad timing. Why does she always have to breeze in and/or out of our daughter's life at the worst possible moments? If she hadn't given birth to the best thing that ever happened to me, I would curse her like the plague._

"Keith..." Lianne said breathlessly, with a hint of relief in her voice.

_She looks happy to see me, which can only mean one thing..._

Veronica pushed Lianne in a startled Leo's direction. "I already Miranda'd her, but you should probably do it again just to be sure. We don't want to fuck this one up."

Leo looked at her with alarm. "Yeah, okay. Uh...you holding up alright, Veronica?"

"Peachy." She managed to curl her lips enough to present a photo-realistic version of a smile. "Just take care of this for me, okay?"

Leo nodded cautiously and placed his hands on Lianne's wrists.

Weevil started to approach Veronica, but Keith subtly warned him off with a twitch of the head and followed his daughter until she reached the deserted area behind the Paramedic's van. He knew she'd obviously want privacy for this.

_She's a strong girl, Keith, no...a strong woman, now. A lot of worse things couldn't break her, and this won't either._

By the time she turned around, she had track marks down both cheeks from where her salty tears had carved a trail in her dusty skin.

Keith pulled his daughter into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. "It's okay baby. It's going to be okay," he promised again and again as he kissed her coconut-scented hair.

Veronica shook her head and leaned back to look at him. "How could you ever love her? How _could_ you?" she asked, in the accusing voice of a small child.

"_You_ loved her, Veronica," he said, reminding her of their shared flaw. "I know she's done some bad things, but nobody will think less of you if you still do."

"I can't," she said, shaking her head wildly. "I won't. She's a monster. She kidnapped Katya, dad!"

"Wiedman kidnapped Katya," Keith said, correcting her.

Refusing to listen, Veronica continued her angry diatribe. "Instead of staying home to mother her only child, whom she claimed to love, she left to become the booze-hound Bonnie to Jake Kane's beige-colored Clyde. At least the real Clyde did his own dirty work, he didn't send Bonnie to commit felonies for him while he safely lounged around at a tech convention in Palo Alto."

_WHAT?_

He could feel the grip on his emotions starting to loosen. "She told you this? She said she was holding Katya for Jake?"

Veronica erupted into sour laughter that chilled Keith to the core. "No! Did you expect her to admit it? Of course she's lying and covering for him. Why wouldn't she? He's the only thing she's ever cared about."

Keith held his daughter's once angelic face in his hands and smiled. "Hey. You and me? We're a team. We never needed her and she proved that when she left us and our lives turned out better without her. If she'd stayed, you might have been cleaning up after a drunk in your spare time instead of spending that time studying to earn a free ride at Hearst. You wouldn't have been as involved in my business and then you wouldn't have developed all of these superpowers that have half of Neptune shaking in their boots whenever they hear your name. And there's no way you would have left me alone with Lianne to move across the country to attend the FBI academy. Her leaving was the best thing that ever happened to you."

_You wouldn't be this version of you if she hadn't, and I love you just as you are._

He swept his daughter up into his arms and let her cry into his chest.

"I'm not sure that FBI thing was the best selling point, dad," she said with bemusement, her words muffled by his cheap polyester tie.

"You saved a lot of girls, Veronica. You may have lost that one, but it doesn't take away the accomplishments you did have. I'm sure the parents of the girls that you managed to save are extremely thankful that your mother was a drunk who abandoned you, thus freeing up your energy to pursue a failed career in federal law enforcement on the other side of the country," he said. A smirk crept it's way across his face and his eyes twinkled with cheekiness. "Too much?"

Veronica nodded through her tears and slowed her breathing down as she released her grip on his shoulders. "Has anyone ever told you that you should consider going into motivational speaking? If this sheriff thing doesn't work out for you, I hear Tony Robbins is looking for new recruits..." A brilliant smile wiped the scowl off of her face.

Keith smiled, amazed at the quality of woman he managed to raise despite his inexperience and occasional ineptitude. "Sir, you are a character, that you are. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing," he said, quoting a line from 'The Maltese Falcon'.

"I always suspected I was astonishing," she said as her phone began to vibrate in one of her pockets.

Veronica frantically searched through pocket after pocket of her cargo pants, handing her dad each possession as she emptied them out. She finally located her phone, just as the last ring began to sound.

"Hello?" she said, fumbling with the phone as she answered it.

"I'm looking for somebody and I was wondering if you could help me?" the voice at the other end of the line said. "She's about 5' 2", blonde hair, ornery disposition, has a pension for garlic rolls and rocky road ice cream, and responds to the name 'Bobcat' or 'Ronnie'. You haven't come across anybody by that description, have you?"

With both hands weighed down by ammunition and firearm parts, Keith could only watch helplessly as his daughter collapsed forward, breaking down in tears once again. "Veronica?"

As she straightened her spine, he caught a glimpse of her relieved face and began to relax. Veronica shedding tears of happiness was something he'd never get tired of seeing.

Veronica hiccuped as she struggled to get the words out. "Lo – Logan! I – was – so – freaking – worried," she shouted through gulps of air.

"What happened?" he asked, his tone suddenly turning serious. "Not that I don't get this kind of reaction from most women, but you tend to do a better job at masking the euphoria that usually follows a call from Logan Echoll."

"I..." She stopped speaking, obviously at a loss for words, and looked toward her father.

Keith gingerly placed Veronica's belongings onto the floor and held out his hand for the phone. "You've dealt with enough bad news today, honey. Allow me?"

* * *

Duncan sat next to his mother on the bed and held both of her small hands in his. He felt a lot older than he should, older than he was, and seeing her like this only amplified this sensation.

"Where's L-lilly?" Celeste asked, struggling a little on her granddaughter's name.

"She's with Logan and Dick right now," he said.

"Logan Echolls?" she asked with obvious distaste.

"He's really good with kids," Duncan assured her.

Celeste grimaced. "Let's hope he's not as good with kids as his father was..."

_Now, I remember why I never felt the urge to call home._

Duncan blanched at the implication and dropped his mother's hands. "That's...uh...really messed up, mom."

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, in an attempt to head off an argument. "He was never like that, I know. He was always a devoted boyfriend to your sister. A little _too _devoted, at times, but sweet."

_Logan Echolls is sweet? Huh. Guess it's a step up from being called a pedophile._

"How did you end up crossing paths with Logan? You haven't been in touch this whole time with him, have you?" Celeste asked in a slightly hurt tone.

"No. He was with...you know, maybe now's a good time for me to ask you why you suddenly summoned my presence to Neptune," Duncan said as he shifted his weight to look at her more squarely in the face.

_Must stay away from the V-word if I want to make it out of here in one piece._

Celeste brought a hand to Duncan's cheek and caressed it lovingly. "I'm glad you didn't alter your face at all to disguise yourself. You always had the most handsome face...so much like your father's."

"I wanted Lilly to know the real me, to see herself in my face. Considering she was going to be missing so much from her life, I owed her at least that," Duncan bit out with an undercurrent of resentment.

Celeste let her hands fall back onto his and squeezed them. "I want you to know that I'm sorry, Duncan. I'm sorry I didn't support you. At the time, I thought it was worth forcing your hand to give her up. You were so young, and I just...I just didn't want to see you alone with so much responsibility, when you should have been out realizing your dreams. I wanted better for you."

Duncan could feel his stomach churn with the spiral of her circular reasoning.

_She wanted better for me than to raise my child alone without help, so she abandoned me, which only made my unsupported parenthood a certainty. _

"I wouldn't have been alone if you'd stood behind me. You could have helped me get Lilly away from the Mannings," he said.

"How was I supposed to know that you were crazy enough to cling to wild ideas sown into your head by people who had no business planting them? How could I know that you would dare to sneak Lilly out of the country all by yourself?" she asked. "It's not like it was in your character to be proactive like that."

Duncan's face twitched at the assessment and he averted his eyes. "I wasn't by myself, but that was the problem, wasn't it, mom?"

He never looked up, he didn't have to. But if he had, he would have seen the subtle movement of her nodding at him.

_Why do you hate her so much? How can you hate the one person, besides Lilly, that I love more than anything? Shouldn't you love who I love...if you love me enough?_

"It was always about her, wasn't it? Were you afraid I was going to marry her or something?" he asked, lobbing a stony glare at his mom.

Celeste's chest began to heave slightly and she bit her lip. "She is the child of your father's mistress, the daughter of the man who led a witch hunt against us in our darkest hour. She was one late-night encounter away from being your half-sister! Do you know how painful it was for me to sit across the table from her and break bread?"

"It's not her fault who her parents are," he said.

"No. It's not. But, I can't help the way I feel, okay? Her mother was making a fool of me! How would you feel in my place?" she asked.

Duncan ran a hand on the back of his neck to release his tension. "I wouldn't have been in your place. Look, I love dad, but he treated you like crap and you chose to stay with him anyway."

Celeste held her chin high as her eyes flashed with indignation. "I couldn't have people looking at me like I was some pathetic sad sack who couldn't hold onto her man."

"That's your problem, mom. You always spent way too much time caring what other people thought of you," he said, getting worked up. "You cared more about your embarrassment than for your own son's happiness."

She wiped a tear from her eye and looked at the floor. "It was all I had, Duncan. Your whole life was in front of you, but mine...you just wouldn't understand."

_Yeah, you're right about that._

His mother looked so tired to him, not just from the medical treatments, but from the little disappointments in life that had been chipping away at her bit by bit over the years. Her insecurity was a bigger cancer than her physical disease ever was, spreading misery to every part of her life, silently overtaking the very fabric of her being.

Duncan's eyes softened. His mother was flawed but she wasn't evil, and he knew that she truly did have his best interests at heart, even if they didn't mirror his own. He'd gotten well-acquainted with necessity of dealing with one's flaws on his epic journey into no man's land and knew that the only way to kill them was to starve them.

"Not true. You had me. You had Lilly. You could have been happy," he said, insistently, knowing full well his mother didn't have the capacity to fight the good fight on principle alone. Not by choice, anyway. "Maybe things would have been different if you'd left him?"

Celeste smiled sadly and wiped another tear from her eye. "Don't think I never thought about it, that Lilly might have been spared if I'd had the courage to put her first and leave. I'm full of regrets Duncan, believe me, but what can I do about it now? All I can do is apologize. I can't go back."

_You're not the only one who wishes they could go back. I'd do so many things differently. I would have told Veronica the truth about your suspicions from the get-go. I wouldn't have treated Meg the way I did. They both deserved so much better._

"Why did you bring me here, mom?" Duncan asked.

"I may not have long. I wanted to see you one more time, I wanted to meet Lilly," she said.

_What's the other reason, mom? The real reason._

"You've been sick with cancer for over two years. Why now?" he asked, refusing to accept such a pedestrian explanation. Nothing was ever single-fold where she was concerned.

Celeste rose to her feet and walked toward her bedroom dresser. She opened the top drawer, pushed aside her unmentionables, and pulled out a stack of photocopies from beneath the piles of satin and lace.

Duncan looked at his mother warily. "What's that?"

Celeste dropped the thick packet on the bed and looked her son directly in the eyes. "Your insurance policy."

* * *

**A/N - I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written! Hope you enjoyed it. I promise that all of your questions will be answered. Sorry no Dick in this chapter, but he's coming up soon. More Mac intrigue as well.**

**I'm beta-less as always, so please ignore the little mistakes - they will be fixed. **

**Thanks again for sticking with this fic. The readership has been a bit sluggish lately as well as the comments, so I'm really grateful to those of you who are still reading, and especially those of you who are _reviewing..._**


	32. Chapter 32

**No joke – your reviews made my night! I was soooo bored in the hotel and it was really fun hearing what you all had to say, so THANK YOU!**

**So, I was thinking of lacing some events through the end of this story to set things up for a sequel, but wanted to gauge your interest in one. It would involve a few smaller mysteries, rather than just one bigger one – more like the series actually was – and it would take place immediately after this one ends. It'll be way less angsty, obviously, because LoVe will be solidly together (they will get a happy ending in this one, of course!) Whaddaya think? Lemme know via the review section or PM me.**

**Also, I'm dying to know what you think of my Gory. I feel like we were robbed of a great character by not getting a S4, because he would have obviously featured big in it. Based on the 'villains' in the past three seasons (Logan included!), he probably would have been more complex than the jerk we see in The Bitch is Back. I tried to write him the way I thought they might, but am not sure if it translated or if he still seemed one dimensional.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 32**

Veronica ambled over to the back of the EMS van and watched undetected as Gory cradled Katya in his arms while whispering sweetly to her in their native language. Katya laughed easily and kissed his cheek before threading their fingers together.

_How can he be such a douchebag to 99% of the female population, but such a prince with her?_

"Ahem," Veronica fake coughed to alert them to her presence.

"Ronja!" Katya's eyes grew large at the sight of her friend and she scrambled off of her boyfriend's lap, then jumped from the edge of the van to greet her with a warm hug. "You're okay!"

"Yeah. Luckily for me, my little brother keeps those portable tongue-brushing thingies in my old car, so it's almost like I didn't humiliate myself by tossing my cookies while I was arresting my own mother. Almost..." Veronica said and then moved her tongue around to double-check for cottonmouth. "I'm not sure why and frankly a little disturbed that Darrell feels he needs to keep 100 units of TheraBreath in the glove compartment, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Pun intended."

"You...?" Katya seemed bewildered. "What..?" The Ukrainian woman clearly wanted to say more, but much like Veronica, obviously had no idea where to start.

_Okay, it's possible I'm rambling a little._

"My mother's in custody," Veronica answered the unasked question without emotion. "I turned her over to the sheriff's department."

"Oh Ronja..." Katya frowned. "But you? You are okay?"

_Define 'okay'._

Veronica clenched her jaw to prevent herself from crying and nodded. She felt like an overfilled glass of milk being heated in the microwave – always one second away from bubbling over and making a huge mess.

Her friend surveyed her with a skeptical eye. "No. You are liar, but it is normal, of course," she said, resigned to the fatalist philosophy common amongst Eastern Europeans.

"Tell that to my father," Veronica said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Gory slid down to the ground and offered up the stolen hard drive in his outstretched hand. "I believe this belongs to you?"

Veronica accepted the drive and examined it closely. "I suppose it does now. Thanks. Is Mac back yet?"

Gory shrugged. "She was talking to Wiedman when I left."

"If she doesn't walk out of that house in the next five minutes, I'm going in after her," Veronica said, more for her own benefit than for his.

"Probably a good idea," he said. "Wiedman's acting kind of strange today. Well, strange for him, I guess."

Katya shot Gory a sidelong look and he took a deep breath and focused his attention on Veronica. "Can I talk to you, Mars?"

Veronica placed a hand on her hip and sighed. "I'm kind of in the middle of something, Gory."

He reached out to prevent her from leaving, but stopped just short of touching her arm. "It'll only take a minute. I just...I wanted to say thanks, okay? You came through for me, you helped me even though I'd given you every reason not to."

_Huh. Was not expecting that. Gotta hand it to Gory, he's anything but predictable. _

Her eyes went to Katya. "I had one reason."

Gory shifted his weight nervously and cleared his throat. "I, um, I also wanted to say that I'm sorry - truly sorry – about what I did to you in college. And I actually mean it this time. I'm not, you know, really like that...at least, anymore," he said, and stole a glance at his now-satisfied girlfriend. "I owe you one."

Veronica raised an eyebrow.

He expelled a long, beleaguered breath and smirked. "Okay fine. I probably owe you several, so whatever you need, whenever you need it, you just name it and it's done, okay? No questions asked."

_You'd better believe I'll be collecting._

She smiled widely and wagged her index finger at him. "Gorya Sorokin, your bar-mitzvah may have been over a decade ago, but today is the day you truly became a man."

Gory rolled his eyes at her. "Better not tell my dad that or he'll be pissed he blew 200 G's on a kid's birthday party."

"He kind of did though, right? I'll never understand the inner workings of a rich person's mind," she mused, her lips pursed in thought.

Ignoring the slight, he lifted his chin in a reverse nod. "So, are we good?"

_If Katya likes you, there must be something redeeming about you._

Veronica looked at Katya and winked. "We're good," she said, gesturing between herself and the other woman, then pointed to Gory. "You, however, are on probation."

He shook his head and grinned at her. "Man, you are a ball-buster. I can see now how you keep your army of male admirers in line."

"On that note..." Veronica turned and walked away.

She noticed her father talking on the radio and waited for him patiently.

Keith smiled at her and gestured for her to stay. "I'll let her know, Leo. Thanks."

"Let me know what?" Veronica asked.

"He's got your mom down at the station right now and she's being booked as an accessory to kidnapping," he said.

"Why as an accessory and not the real deal?" she asked.

Keith dipped his head to look her in the eyes. "We both know your mom didn't take that girl. The main thing Lianne is guilty of is being weak-willed and gullible. She's no mastermind."

_She also guilty of selfishness and abandonment, but unfortunately for me, you can't actually book her for those crimes._

Veronica nodded to herself as she stared at the ground.

"Hey," Keith said, reaching forward to tip his daughters face up. "Are you doing okay?"

_No._

She painted in a smile. "You know, everybody keeps asking me that, but it's kind of a redundant question. If you all thought I was doing okay, you wouldn't bother asking, right?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "We care, Veronica. So sue us."

"I might if I thought you would settle out of court," she said with a pout.

Keith looked around to make sure they didn't have an audience and then leaned over and kisses her forehead. "You look tired, sweetie."

Veronica stretched her arms above her head like a kitten and squeezed her eyes shut. "...and I'm so well-rested, too. Go figure," she said through a large yawn.

"Well, I've got something that might perk you up a bit," he said. "Logan and Lilly are going to be dropped off here sometime in the next 30 minutes."

_Yes. Yes. Yes._

Her face lit up and she let her head drop backward in relief. "Thanks. That does actually help."

"You're going after Mac? She's been in there for a while now," Keith said.

"I was just on my way inside. You haven't...heard anything, have you?" Veronica asked, hoping for some good news about Dick. She wasn't sure she could look Mac in the eyes again and lie to her.

"Some witnesses say they saw him being carried out of the wrecked car by two men wearing helmets," he said. They apparently put Dick on the back of one of their bikes and took off. This is why there weren't any traces of blood more than a few feet from the accident," he explained. "We've been checking out CCTV and traffic cams to see if we can track them that way."

"It's something, I guess," she whispered as she turned to the house.

Keith placed a paternal hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "We'll find him."

* * *

Mac sat perched on the edge of Jake Kane's desk, as Wiedman paced the stretch of floor in front of her.

"This 'affair' you claim you're having with Mr. Kane...it started when?" Clarence asked, pausing for an answer.

"Last year's Christmas party," Mac said without missing a beat.

_He is not buying what I am selling at all._

"Okay...and do you often sneak into his house for your little romps?" he asked.

"I can't exactly walk in the front door, can I? He doesn't like to upset Celeste, as I'm sure you can understand," she said.

He stroked his chin as he processed her answers. "Absolutely. Wouldn't want to upset the little woman. And do you normally enter via the doggy door?"

_Okay, this is getting absurd. I'm not sure I can even keep a straight face anymore. He obviously knows this is bullshit. Oh well, guess I'll keep it going as long as he does._

Mac leaned forward conspiratorially. "You're the head of security, so you must know the answer to that. Surely, nothing gets by you."

"You're right about that, Ms. MacKenzie," he said, turning to face her. "You want to tell me what you're really doing here?"

_Here we go..._

She took a breath. "I just di-"

"Please," Wiedman spat out, shutting her down before she could start. "Why don't you start by telling me why you wanted me to think you were Veronica Mars."

"Who?" Mac asked with faux ignorance.

Clarence smiled. "She's here, isn't she? I assume she's already found whatever she was looking for while you ran interference?"

Mac feigned confusion and busied herself with the strings on her grey hoodie. "I have no idea who or what you're talking about."

"Play it your way, MacKenzie. You're bright enough to realize that you're not walking out of here until I get answers," he said, his jovial tone barely concealing the menace in his words.

"...and you're bright enough not to waste your time asking questions about things you already know the answers to," she said, pleased with the shock slowly registering on his face.

_Boo-yah!_

"Now, we're finally getting somewhere," Wiedman said and gestured for her to sit in a chair, then circled around and planted himself on Jake Kane's brass-studded, leather throne.

Mac sat gingerly at the edge of the chair, while furtively looking out of the window in the distance for signs of the cavalry. "You know why I'm here, why Veronica is here, so now maybe you could return the favor by cluing us in as to why you took Katya in the first place."

Clarence rested his chin on one fist and ran the other hand back and forth absentmindedly over the desktop while deep in thought. "Do you know why the cold war went on so long?"

_What the fuck is he talking about?_

"Uh, both Russia and the US had nuclear weapons?" she guessed.

"That's right. The threat of a nuclear holocaust was enough to keep both sides at bay, but can you imagine if one side had suddenly lost their warheads?" he asked.

"They'd be sitting ducks," Mac said.

Clarence touched his nose, indicating that she'd hit the nail on the head. "The only way to keep everybody in line is to ensure - -"

"-Mutually assured destruction," she said, completing his thought.

He regarded her with a renewed interest. "If I did take Katya, and I'm not admitting to anything, I would only have been evening up the playing field."

Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro" rang out from the front of the house.

_Are these people serious? Even the doorbell is pretentious in this joint._

The faint murmur of the housekeeper greeting the new guest echoed off of the marble floors and carried throughout the house, followed by the deafening slam of the heavy front door.

_Finally. Jeez Bond, you sure left me hanging long enough._

* * *

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wiedman!" the housekeeper frantically said as she rushed ahead of the guest. "I tried to tell her to wait in the parlor, but she just wouldn't listen."

Veronica appeared in the door jam and aimlessly leaned up against it. Clarence stared at her with a bemused veneration.

_So the mouse has finally come out of its hole to play._

"It's okay, Olivia. We were expecting her," he said, his eyes never leaving his nemesis.

"I like what you've done with the place since the last time I was here," Veronica said, absorbing her surroundings. "Very Merchant-Ivory."

"Just trying to keep things interesting for you," Wiedman said with a smile. "Wouldn't want your visits here to get boring."

She sighed. "Oh Clarence, you know full well I'm usually too busy snooping to appreciate the all of the little touches. Though I will say one thing, Celeste is probably the only person who can make a McMansion seem even more soulless_ after_ it's furnished. That woman really has a talent for sucking the life out of everything."

_Play it cool, Clarence. Don't let the mask slip._

Wiedman's face quickly dropped despite his resolve. "Of course, it's also just possible that you have no taste," he said through gritted teeth.

Veronica sat on the edge of the grand desk and ran her hand over the top of it admiringly. "That's certainly a possibility...though I did date her son for about two years, so I must have _some_ taste, right?"

He exhaled roughly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

"We shall," she said, crossing her arms to mimic his stance. "Why don't we start by you telling me why you kidnapped Katya."

"You know why," Wiedman said. "Let's move beyond the obvious."

Veronica nodded, then tilted her head to the side. "Okay, then maybe you could tell me why you asked me to locate Duncan Kane for you when you'd already been in contact with him?"

_She's good. Almost as good as I am in half the time. I'm a little relieved I'll be retired by the time she's my age, because I would hate to go up against her with 25 more years of experience under her belt._

Clarence smiled and licked his lips in anticipation. "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask me that."

"Am I supposed to wonder how long it's going to take you to answer it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I knew Petrenko was going to try to get to him through you. I couldn't tip my hand, in case you two got to talking."

"The only talking we did involved me sitting in a pitch black room with a gun pressed up against the back of my skull," Veronica said casually and without comment.

_She didn't even flinch when she said that. This girl is hard core._

"So...what? You wanted to get Duncan to sign the patents over to his father before Petrenko had a chance to bribe or threaten him into giving the goods to the competition?" she asked.

"Astute guess, but not exactly correct," Wiedman said.

Veronica's brow knit and she shook her head in deep thought. "Okay, which part of it am I getting wrong?"

"We didn't want Duncan to sign over the patents to Mr. Kane, we wanted him to sell them to Petrenko," he said slowly, hoping she'd read between the lines without him having to elaborate further. "Come on, Ms. Mars, you disappoint me. You're not asking the right questions."

_I can practically see the gears in her head turning like a fine Swiss clock._

The realization hit Veronica like a freight train. "Oh God, of course." She slumped further onto the desk, still hugging her own chest protectively. "Who is 'we'?"

Clarence swallowed dryly, his throat a winding tunnel paved with gravel, and looked her directly in the eye.

Veronica nodded, getting all the confirmation she needed off of his look. "So, let me ask you this: when you roped my mother into committing a felony for you, was it just Celeste trying to get revenge on Lianne for sleeping with her husband or was she more focused on trying to punish Jake by taking away the one thing he loved most?"

Wiedman sat down on the desk next to Veronica, and could feel the anger vibrating off of her in waves. "Those were just side benefits. The fact is, she's the only one around here who could have done it."

"Because she lives here, doesn't she? She lives in that cursed-looking, fairytale cottage in the back of the Kanes' property lot?" she asked. "How long?"

He turned his head to face her. "She's been living here as long as they've owned the place."

Veronica recoiled almost violently, and her hand worried over her mouth as a look of disgust overtook her features. "Oh."

As much as Clarence enjoyed besting Veronica, he didn't enjoy watching her suffer. It had to be a fair fight. "Are you okay?" Wiedman asked, placing one hand on her arm.

She nodded a little too rapidly for her response to be read as truthful, then gently extricated herself from his grip. "I haven't seen my mom since I was 17." Her eyes were misty, red-rimmed and strung out, but no tears ever fell. He hadn't noticed until now, but they carried the obvious battle scars from an earlier breakdown.

_It cries! So, she's human after all?_

"I know," he said with unexpected empathy. "It can't be easy to discover her like this."

Veronica shook off her emotion and turned to Wiedman. "Does Celeste know she lives here?"

"No. I don't know. She's...she's been too sick to explore the grounds fully. I don't know...maybe she never wanted to because she knew what she'd find." Clarence felt the tight reign of control begin the slip as he spoke about his ailing lover.

"How did you get my mom to agree to help you?" she asked.

"I told her she'd be helping Jake. I knew she'd do anything I asked as long as it was for him," he said.

"The irony is magnificent." Veronica laughed bitterly as her hands found their way into her hair. "You know, I used to be in the revenge business myself. I knew I should have picked your brain more when I was in high school."

Wiedman smiled at her. "You never needed any tips from me."

"A girl can always learn," she said, before standing to draw her gun. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Wiedman, but I am still technically a federal agent."

He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and stood up in front of her. "Then I'm afraid you're going to have to arrest yourself as well, Ms. Mars. I have proof that you smuggled Duncan and Lilly Kane out of the country seven years ago."

A loud gasp sounded from across the room as Mac, who had been quietly listening until now, looked stricken. "I always suspected you did it, Bond. I mean, Duncan may be book smart, but he never did have the street sense to pull something like that off on his own. I just...I guess I didn't _know_-know until now."

"I'm sure your opinion of me has altered irrevocably, Q," Veronica quipped as her grip on the gun began to falter. "What proof, Wiedman?"

"You had a little bit of hired help, if I'm not mistaken...?" he asked, a smug smirk screwed onto his otherwise placid exterior.

"Fucking Vinnie!" Veronica slammed the gun on the desk and cursed under her breath. "Why get paid once when you can get paid twice for the same exact job?" she said, the words flying off her tongue like sparks off a flint.

"You got screwed by 'The Vinnie Special'?" Mac asked, a little more amused than she should be.

"Honestly, he's like a bad penny that you just can't get rid of...you know, if pennies were designed by Ed Hardy," Veronica said, pulling a grimace. "Fine, Clarence. We're at a stalemate. What now?"

_Here we go. Let's see if she goes for it._

"Well...I know you're probably not going to seem too eager about this, but I could really use your help," he said.

Veronica laughed genuinely this time. "Why on Earth would I do that?"

"You promised Duncan you'd help him keep his daughter, didn't you?" Wiedman asked, a knowing expression forming in his eyes.

"You really have no qualms about hitting below the belt, do you, Clarence?" she asked.

He bowed his head to her in deference. "Sometimes you've got to grab for the low hanging fruit to keep from starving, Veronica."

* * *

Celeste and Duncan sat on her bed together as he thumbed through the stack of photocopies she'd just given him.

"What is all of this this?" Duncan asked.

"They're copies of patent certificates for different pieces of technology that your father developed," Celeste said. "Most of it was used in his latest security software."

His brow furrowed as he noticed the his own name on every sheet. "Why are these all in my name?"

"Your father put them in your name as a way of ensuring that Kane Software couldn't be destroyed if he were sued for some reason. If his personal finances were wiped out due to a lawsuit and he had to liquidate all of his assets, the patents, being in your name, would remain untouched and the company would be protected because of it," she said. "It's the same reason our house in Gstaad was purchased in my name."

"Makes sense, I guess. But what do these patents have to do with me? How exactly are they insurance?" he asked.

For a brief moment, Celeste's face welled with emotion, before she bid it down again. "I'm not...I may not be around much longer, darling."

_I can't...I can't deal with all of this right now._

"Mom..." Duncan said, his face creased with anguish.

She waved her hand in the air to stop him from speaking. "Listen, if I don't make it, those patents may be all you have left."

"I don't understand," he said.

"You have some money in a trust, but all of my funds are in join accounts, and if I, um, you know...if I'm not here anymore, all of my money and property would go to your father," Celeste explained. "If I wanted to leave my share of the money to you, he would have to agree to allocate a certain amount in my will, and he's...well, he's not amenable to that right now. He says it's unnecessary since you're our only heir. It's just...when I'm gone, you could be cut out of your father's money completely."

_He's my father. You may have your issues with him, but he's always looked out for me...except for the one time it really counted, I guess. Shit._

"What are you talking about? Why would dad cut me off? It's not like he has any other living children to leave his money to," he said, regretting the words the moment they left his lips. His mother winced and looked away forlorn. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up Lilly like that."

Celeste rubbed circles on her temples with closed eyes. "He's going to marry Lianne after I pass and you'll get nothing."

_Lianne? God...then Veronica really will be my sister. Prophecy concluded, Greek tragedy complete._

He felt sick at the thought of his father marrying Veronica's mother, at his mother being gone, at the whole sticky situation. "No. He wouldn't do that to me."

"Duncan, get real. You know what's going to happen if I die. Your father is going to marry that...that woman, and when he dies, Lianne will get everything because she'll be his wife. You'll have nothing," she said firmly, trying hard to make him understand her fears. "And you know who Lianne will be leaving _your_ fortune to when she goes?"

_You have got to be kidding me. And to think, I always teased Veronica about being a conspiracy theorist._

"Are you talking about Veronica?" Duncan asked, doubting his mother's far-fetched scenario.

"Bingo, and you and your daughter will be left out in the cold while Veronica Mars spends the rest of her days living the high life off the sweat off of your father's back," Celeste said angrily.

"Veronica...Veronica doesn't care about that kind of stuff, mom. She would never keep our family's fortune from Lilly," he said insistently. "She's never cared about my money. She's the only girl I ever dated who didn't."

_And the only girl I ever loved._

"You say that now, but money changes people, Duncan," Celeste said, driving the point home with a warning look.

"Veronica is the same girl who tried to pay for her own ticket to homecoming. She would barely let me buy her dinner when we were going out. I think you're confusing her with her mother or something, because that just isn't her," Duncan said, getting himself worked up.

_She wouldn't. I know her. She attracts rich guys like flypaper - Me, Troy, Logan, Casey – every guy who ever wanted her got the shaft, despite the size of their wallets._

Her face soured. "Oh God. Don't tell me you're still in love with her, Duncan. Please," she groaned.

_As if I could ever stop._

"What does it matter? Even if I am, you'd just find a way to ruin the relationship anyway. You've already done that twice," he said petulantly.

Celeste carefully placed her delicate hands onto her lap and lifted her chin high with indignity. "I was protecting you."

"You were protecting yourself. It had nothing to do with me and you know it," Duncan snapped.

"Well, I'm protecting you now. There's nothing left for me but to ensure that you have a happy life after I'm gone, and I plan to do that even if it means pressuring you to sell those patents to the competition in order to secure your daughter's livelihood. I may not have been the best mother while you were growing up, but I'm going to be a good one to you now," she said.

"How? By helping me screw over my own father?" he shouted as he backed off of the bed. "Jesus, mom. This isn't me. This isn't anything I'd ever consider doing."

"Think about Lilly!" Celeste urged anxiously.

"I _am_ thinking about Lilly! I want her to respect me! I may not have accomplished much of anything on my own, but I'm a good dad. I'm a good dad. That much, I know. And I'm not going to risk her one day being disappointed in me because of this," Duncan said as he weakly poked at the papers on the bed, sending the pile askew. "Besides, that is not how you treat family."

The frail matriarch rose from her bed, wringing out her hands like Lady MacBeth in a waking dream. She grasped her son's arm for support and leaned heavily on him. "You want to know how your father treats family? By moving his mistress onto the property he shares with his sick wife while she lays dying several hundred feet from their shared bed."

_No. He wouldn't. There's no way he'd ever go that far morally adrift._

Shocked, Duncan pulled away from her and grabs his head as though it might prevent it from exploding. "What?"

"She lives here, Duncan! Jake moved Lianne into a house less than a quarter mile from my back porch. He sneaks over there every night to humiliate me by screwing his whore on my property, while I'm home all by myself," Celeste said, as tears generously fell from her bloodshot, cerulean eyes and soaked her silk robe through to her alabaster skin. "How can you talk of family and respect when this is how he acts? You're so worried about disappointing Lilly, but you have to know that nothing you do could ever come close to being as disappointing as your father's 25 years of betrayal and abandonment."

_Fuck! Fucking asshole! How could he do this to the family? It's HIS fault I was forced to cruelly break Veronica's heart junior year and ruin my friendship with Logan. HIS fault I had to live on the run with my daughter and deprive her of a normal life. HIS fault I had to give up the only thing I ever cared about. Fuck you, dad! _

Duncan's heart was thrumming hard in both ears, nearly blocking out the sound of his mother's words. He could feel his knees go weak at the revelation that his entire childhood and future had been shattered by his father's enduring lust and selfishness. How could it take him this long to see that Jake Kane was the architect of everything miserable in his life? He pulled his mother to his chest and held her tightly as they both cried.

"What are you thinking, Duncan?" Celeste asked, as she clung desperately to his frame.

He buried his face in her shoulder and inhaled her familiar perfume, a scent that he found oddly more comforting than she had actually ever been herself. "I – I – I guess I'm just thinking that I wish Lilly were still here with us."

_Lilly would know the right thing to do, she always had a knack for that. But she's not here and I am, so I just have to man-up. That's what Lilly would tell me to do. "Man-up Donut!"_

At the mention of her daughter's name, Celeste only sobbed harder.

"Shh..." Duncan soothed his mother's back with a comforting hand. "I'll take care of everything mom. Don't worry, please. I'll handle everything. I promise."

* * *

**A/N – Okay, okay. I know I promised a LoVe reunion in this chapter, but things ran long and this just seemed like a natural stopping point. I PROMISE, the LoVe will happen in the next chapter – maybe even a little smut, if I can work it in (that's what she said...sorry, I couldn't resist). And yes – Mr. Casablancas will absolutely be showing up in the next chapter and probably all of the ones after that too.**

**So, do you understand what's happening now? The basic gist is that Wiedman is working for Celeste's best interests because he's in love with her and wants to grant her last wishes, which include bankrupting her husband (by ruining his company by causing him to lose a billion dollar court case) - and getting her son rich at the same time - by convincing Duncan to sell his patents to Petrenko. Petrenko kidnapped Duncan because he wanted to pressure him into making a deal, in essence, double-crossing Celeste and Wiedman, who had already contacted him about the possible backroom sale. In retaliation and to secure a fair deal, Wiedman kidnapped Katya as insurance (to ensure M.A.D., if you will...), and roped dummy Lianne into helping him by telling her she'd be doing a great favor for Jake. So basically, Celeste will have made Jake broke, woman-less, and estranged from his only child by the time she croaks. Nothing like the fury of a woman scorned, eh?**

**Now that all of the cards are on the table, what do you think? Let me know in a review! **

**PS – Special love to those who put this fic as a favorite. You happen to be _my_ favorite as well :)**


	33. Chapter 33

**So, this chapter ran pretty long and I wasn't able to fit in the smutty scene I was hoping to include (don't kill me!), but I did follow through with my promise of the return of Dick (this joke never gets old for me), a LoVe reunion, and a Duncan/Lilly reunion. **

**Really excited that so many of you are looking forward to a sequel. I already have a bunch of ideas in place and I think you will dig them. The learning curve for writing a fic for a new fandom can be steep - especially when it's genre-specific like this, but I *have* learned and will really try to streamline the plot for the next fic. You will not require Cliff's Notes for it, I promise. It's going to be a fun read. Thanks for keeping up with this winding, complicated mystery!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 33**

Logan carried a giggling Lilly into the foyer on piggyback and was immediately halted by the sight of the elder Lilly Kane staring down at him like a ruling monarch. His breath caught at the realism of the painting and he could feel a long-buried pang of loss start to tug at his gut.

_You always knew how to own a room, Lils._

"Is that me?" Lilly whispered, instinctively knowing to lower her voice in Celeste's antiseptic ice castle.

_God, I hope not._

He squeezed her thighs. "That's your Aunt Lilly. You were named after her."

Though he couldn't see little Lilly's face, he knew that it was awed in wonder as she looked at her possible future self. "She's very pretty."

Logan smiled sadly at the picture and nodded. "Yes she was, and you're just as pretty."

Lilly leaned forward and kissed her uncle's cheek. "Do you think when I'm as old as she is there, you can marry me?"

_Hmm...I think your grandma would probably be even less excited about this match than when I was dating the first Lilly Kane._

He tilted his head back to look at the girl. "You can do better than me, Lilly, trust me. One day you'll meet a nice boy your own age who will be more than happy to carry you around town on his back all of the time."

She shook her head. "No. I want to marry you. You saved me, just like the thief saved Rapunzel in 'Tangled', and _they_ got married."

"Well, I'm fairly certain that you were the one who saved me, sweetie, with your stealth throwing ability," he said with a smirk. "You have great aim for a tiny squirt, just like your Auntie Vee."

"Did Auntie Vee ever save you?" she asked, completely invested in the answer.

_You have no idea. I'd be next to my mother at the bottom of the sea bed if it weren't for her._

Logan's chest tightened at the memory of Veronica cradling him in her arms at The Sunset Regent. "Too many times to count, little one. Now, let's go and find your daddy, he's got to be worried."

As they continued down the hallway, Logan could hear the soft, even voice of Duncan Kane floating out into the hallway. He couldn't make out what he was saying, but whatever it was, he was using the same soothing tone he used with Lilly when she was upset, so whoever was with him was obviously in a fragile state.

"Special delivery," Logan announced as he walked into the room with Lilly riding on his back. "Celeste," he said, nodding a curt hello to the frigid Kane matriarch, who smiled tightly in response.

_God, Celeste looks frail. Still as terrifying as ever, but somehow less imposing than she used to be._

"Daddy!" Lilly cried, jumping down to greet her father.

A huge wave of relief passed over Duncan's features and he ran to meet her. "Baby girl!" he said as he lifted her off the ground into his arms. "Oh, I missed you. Did you have trouble getting here?"

She grasped her father tightly around the neck and hugged him as hard as she could manage. "Daddy! Daddy!"

Celeste's mouth fell open at the sight of her granddaughter and she quickly covered it with a shaky hand. "Oh...Duncan...she looks just like..."

"Yeah. I know. It's kind of weird at first, but you'll get used to it," he said as he carefully monitored his mother's reaction. "Lilly, baby? I'd like you to meet somebody very special. This is your grandmother."

Lilly pulled a sharp intake of air then buried her face into her father's chest and manually folded his arms around her. "Please don't let her take me, daddy. Please!"

Celeste looked horrified by the outburst and was rendered immobile.

"She probably thinks you're Meg's mother," Logan said, attempting to ease the older woman's worry.

_However, if she knew what her paternal grandmother was like, she'd probably run screaming from her too._

"Oh...of course," Celeste said, looking somewhat understanding. "No, Lilly. I'm your daddy's mother."

The little girl peeked out at her over Duncan's shoulder and looked to him for verification as he stroked her back. "She's the 'good' grandmother, Lilly."

_That's relative._

Lilly smiled tentatively at her grandmother and sat carefully on the edge of her bed. "You're the other Lilly's mommy too, right? Daddy's sister?"

Celeste fought hard to hold back her tears and simply nodded.

"Uncle Lo showed me her picture in the other room. She looked like a princess," Lilly said, slowly warming up to the only relative she'd ever met before.

"She was a princess, just like you," Celeste said, struggling to keep herself together.

Noticing how overwhelmed his mother was getting, Duncan laid a hand on his child's shoulder and tried to distract her. "Why don't you tell your grandmother everything you've been up to since I saw you yesterday?"

Lilly's eyes lit up. "Okay! Last night when I was asleep, Uncle Lo ran to the hotel room and woke me up and told me we had to get out of there because there was a scary man after us. So, he carried me out of the room, and in the hallway there was this big guy standing there and he had a gun!"

_Oh crap. Lips sealed, Lilly! We had a deal!_

Duncan looked stricken. "Wait – what?"

"Yeah – Uncle Lo was so brave!" Lilly was overly excited about her adventures, and gesticulating so frantically that her mouth could barely keep up with her hands. "The guy was really fat and old, but he was still kinda fast, and he almost grabbed me, but then I threw the bobcat that Auntie Vee got for me in the gift shop at his legs, and he totally tripped over it and fell on his face! It was so funny, daddy!"

_Yeah. Fucking hilarious, Lilly. Thanks._

His old friend looked as white as a sheet at his daughter's retelling of the events. "It sounds...really funny, baby..." he said uneasily.

"Auntie Vee?" Celeste asked, with one perfectly manicured eyebrow raised toward her son. "Vee for Veronica?"

_Figures that's the one detail she's take away from the story. Somebody should invent a drinking game for every time Celeste scowls at the mention of Veronica's name. Ten-to-one our glasses would never have a chance to touch the table. _

Ignoring his mother, Duncan held his daughter close and peppered the top of her head with kisses. "Then what happened, baby?"

Lilly snuggled herself into her father's lap. "Then Uncle Dick drove off in his car and Uncle Lo took me to hide from the bad man in the staircase, then I heard all of those loud popping noises," she said, looking to Logan for confirmation.

_That's it. No ice cream for you, you little loudmouth._

Extremely alarmed, Celeste grabbed her son's arm for support.

"I took her to hide in the basement," Logan said, knowing he would be grilled about the details of what actually happened later on. "And then a fireman came and got us and...here we are." He presented Lilly with a theatrical hand gesture. "Safe and sound."

"So what the hell happened to Dick then?" Duncan asked, his tone highlighting a mild irritation at the beach bum's absence.

"Yeah, I'd like to know what happened to Dick, as well," a voice called out from the hallway.

Celeste rolled her eyes with exasperation. "Who knew my private bedroom was going to be such a hot ticket today?"

* * *

_Fuck. Mac. I can't tell her what happened in front of all these people, but I can't lie to her either. _

"Logan, you're back!" Mac squealed with enthusiasm before rushing at him.

"Mactastic!" Logan caught her embrace and swept her off her feet, then gently lowered her back on to the ground and reached out to stroke the ends of her dark hair with his fingertips. "It's a relief to see you looking more like you."

A devilish twinkle gleamed in her eye. "Yeah. I wouldn't want to get you all hot and bothered and grossed out again."

"If it makes you feel any less squicky, I wouldn't go anywhere near Veronica while she was dressed as you, either," he said.

Logan could hear Celeste hurumph at his girlfriend's name.

_Drink!_

"Yeah, that helps a little, though I was really enjoying your discomfort," Mac said with a marked disappointment.

"Speaking of Veronica, how is she? Where is she?" he asked, as he wandered out of the bedroom to look around for her.

Celeste sighed loudly at Logan's question.

_Drink!_

Lingering at the end of the hallway, he could see the shadows of two people huddled in conversation.

"Ronnie?" Logan shouted, praying it was her.

The chatter stopped and he could hear one set of footsteps retreat, while the other set loudly quickened its approach. He held his breath.

_Come on, baby._

Like a bolt of lightening, Veronica tore down the hallway and flung herself into his arms, almost knocking the two of them onto a marble planter.

"I thought bobcats were supposed to be graceful," he said, slipping his hands underneath her behind to pull her up.

_It feels so good to touch her again._

She wrapped both legs around his waist and ran her fingers over his face like a blind person might read braille. "I can't believe it's really you. I mean, I know we were just on the phone, but I didn't really want to allow myself think you were okay until I saw you in the flesh."

"And now that you see my flesh?" Logan asked suggestively, leaning her into the wall.

She tilted her body to the side to check out his ass. "I'll have to see a little more flesh first before I can make a true judgment."

_You're gonna see more than a little as soon as I get you alone._

They both laughed, more from relief than anything else, and gazed into each other's eyes. "I think I should probably take you home first. For some strange reason, Celeste never did enjoy catching me with my pants down in her house."

"Her loss," Veronica said with a shrug, and ran her fingers down the sides of his face. "So does this mean I'm finally going to get to see where I live? I'm thinking you can't possibly live anywhere less majestic than...I don't know...Valhalla? Mount Olympus? The North Pole?"

_She still wants to live together? I wasn't sure if I hallucinated that._

"No, no and no." He nuzzled her cheek. "I was never one for living that far above sea level, takes too long to get to the beach."

"True, and the elevation just ruins souffles," she said and made a face. "Can't have that. How can I possibly get as hugely fat as I was promised without the employment of souffles? They're kind of central to my plan of completely letting myself go."

Logan brought his mouth to her ear and felt her shudder. "Hate to break it to you, Bob, but neither one of us is leaving the bed long enough to do anything more than boil water. You're just going to have to delay those plans of yours to test the depths of my affection and simply enjoy the benefits of that affection."

He dragged his nose across her cheek and pressed his forehead against hers. "If I have to tie you to the bed to keep you from leaving it, I will."

"I don't think that will be necessary," she said. He pressed himself more firmly into Veronica's lower half, and could feel her dissolve into a molten puddle in his arms. "On second thought..."

_Lord help me._

Before she could say another word, Logan smashed his lips against hers and softly probed her mouth with his warm tongue.

Veronica moaned into his mouth and held him tighter. "God..." she panted as he kissed his way down to the hollow of her neck. "I missed you so much and it was only one day."

"Me too," he murmured into her soft skin as her hands found their way into his hair.

He tasted her neck again, the perfect combination or salty and sweet, and then breathed in deeply her intoxicating natural scent. If this was heaven, he'd die a happy man. A few hours ago, he wasn't sure if he would ever get to experience this again, but it's what kept him going all of those hours hiding in the basement.

_This was worth three hours of singing the 'Spongebob' theme song. _

"This is crazy," she said, pulling him closer into her by his hair. "I don't even feel like myself anymore, I've been so out of control."

He pulled back and watched her squirm with the awkwardness of her feelings. "Any emotion, if it's sincere, is involuntary. Mark Twain."

She winced with self-admonishment. "I'm just not used to - -"

"It doesn't matter. Get out of your head," Logan said, and kissed her again. "None of it matters, okay? Just kiss me," he urged, pleading her with his eyes to let them have this moment unadulterated.

Her blue eyes sparkled with affection as she pulled his face to hers and gave in to his request.

"This house has like, 20 bedrooms. I'm sure the two of you can manage to find your way into one of them before you make a baby in the hallway," Mac said from the doorway of Celeste's bedroom.

_Thanks for the cock-block, my friend. _

Logan lowered Veronica's legs to the floor and leveled Mac with a withering stare. "Nothing like the threat of conception to put a girl in the mood."

"Just sayin'!" Mac said, hands aloft in surrender.

Veronica buried her flushed face in Logan's shoulder.

"Well, since I have your attention now anyway, maybe one of you could send me in the direction of Dick Casablancas?" Mac asked. "You remember him? Tall, blond, crass, surprisingly smarter than he looks..."

_Here we go..._

Both Logan and Veronica stared at their friend wordlessly.

"Wow, Logan must really be as good with his hands as they say if he's rendered you _both_ speechless," she said with a titter.

Veronica's brow creased as she struggled to find a way to break the bad news. "Dick is...uh..."

_I can't let her day get any worse than it already is._

"Missing," Logan said, finishing his girlfriend's thought.

Mac pursed her lips, clearly confused by the vagueness of the answer.

"Just after you left Carmel, we noticed one of Petrenko's men lurking in the hotel lobby. I ran upstairs to get Lilly, and Dick went outside to bring the car around so we could make a fast escape. The thing is, a few minutes after I got Lilly, the guy caught up with us," he said, struggling to explain the events to her in the simplest way possible. "Dick acted as a decoy and drove off without us, to lure the thugs away from Lilly."

Mac processed the information. "Okay, since I'm assuming you've already tried calling him, what about GPS? If his phone is still on, I can track him."

Veronica gripped Logan arm tightly and worried her bottom lip. "He doesn't have his phone on him, Mac."

Mac looked at her friend. "Okay, well what about his car? Does he have Onstar or some other kind of security system?"

"We know where the car is. He wasn't in it," Veronica said quietly.

Mac slipped her thumb into her mouth and bit nervously on her nail as she thought hard. Logan knew her well enough not to push her. In many ways, Mac thought like a man, she'd rather push forward and try to solve a problem then figure out why it happened or how it would affect everybody.

"Mac, there's something else..." he said, dreading her reaction to the worst part of the news.

_It's not going to get less crappy if you drag it out, man. Rip off the band-aid already, it's the only way._

She looked up at him, her expressive, sky-colored eyes glassy with anticipation of what was to come. "Just say it, Logan. I'm a big girl. Is he dead? You can just tell me if he's...he's...just say it now, okay, because I just can't..." She stifled a silent sob, clamping her hand over her mouth until she could regain her bearings. "Just...say it."

Logan clasped the sides of Mac's face with his hands, but she wouldn't look him in the eye. "We don't know if he's dead. They found his car, it was totaled and there was...quite a bit of blood in the driver's seat, but he wasn't there. He was gone."

_This is killing me as much as it's killing you. You have to know that._

She pulled Logan's hands from her face and began to pace. "Maybe he hit his head and he's disoriented? He could be wandering around out there with no idea who he is! Or maybe he's passed out in a hospital somewhere..."

Logan looked to Veronica for help, and could almost see the moment where her mind shifted gears from friend back to agent.

"There weren't any tracks, Mac, which means somebody moved the body," Veronica said.

Mac ran her hands through her hair nervously. "The body? That means you think he's dead, right?"

Veronica placed a hand on her friend's shoulder to ground her. "No. If he were dead, they would have just left him there. The fact that they took him with them is a very good sign. It means they want to keep him alive, for whatever reason."

"That's assuming he still is alive?" Mac asked.

"That's right," Veronica said.

_Good girl, Ronnie. Give her hope. Give me hope, while you're at it._

Mac nodded, insistent on keeping a brave face. "Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have cared about anything related to Dick Casablancas. I mean, of course I would have cared in the broader sense that I wouldn't want to hear about anything bad happening to somebody I knew, but I wouldn't have cared on a personal level. How can things change so much in two weeks? It takes at least six weeks to grow a radish from a seed, and they're like, one of the fastest growing vegetables in existence..."

Veronica shot a worried look at Logan.

_Mac freaking out and babbling is SO not a good thing. She's supposed to be the steady one, the rock. _

"We're going to find him, Mac. I promise you," Veronica said.

Mac shook her head. "You can't promise something like this. It's wishful thinking, at best."

Veronica crossed her arms and lowered her jaw in an imposing stance, which made Logan's lower half twitch despite the inappropriate timing.

_That settles it, my dick really has no tact. Down boy!_

"Have I ever let you down?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Mac exhaled and smiled tightly. "No. You never have."

Logan put one arm around each woman and guided them down the hallway. "Let's get out of here. I think we could all use a break from the madness."

"No time for breaks, Logan. We have a man down," Veronica said.

"You haven't slept in two days, Bond. I'm surprised we're actually even having this conversation right now, because anybody else would be passed out in the corner by now," Mac said.

Logan pulled her closer to his side. "She's right. You need to sleep."

Veronica sloughed his arm off. "I'm fine. Gimme a little coffee, a lot of Red Bull, and I'm good to go."

"Your dad still has his guys going over CCTV footage. I don't know what you think you can do that he can't," he said, beginning to get angry.

"But - "

"I'll work on it," Mac said quietly.

Both Logan and Veronica looked at her with pained expressions. "One power nap and I'm good to go, Mac. Seriously, I want to help."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know you do, but you'd be helping me more by keeping me busy."

Logan gave Veronica a look that indicated she should listen to her friend and she relented.

"Fine. Okay. But I'm only going to be out of commission for a few hours. As soon as I get a solid four hours of REM, I'm back on my feet, in fighting shape," Veronica said.

"Rockin' that featherweight division?" Logan asked, quoting Dick's slight from nearly two weeks ago, as his eyes drifted down to her chest.

She gave her boyfriend the side-eye and folded her arms across her breasts. "You're supposed to make me _want_ to find Dick."

* * *

Dick opened his eyes to pitch blackness. He could hear a steady beeping sound, but other than that, there was pure silence.

_Is that my alarm? It can't be time for work already, it's still dark outside._

He tried to sit up, but agony charged through his body like a live wire. "Fuck!" he yelled and immediately fell back against the mattress.

_What the hell happened to me? Where am I? Is this a hospital or something?_

He began to cough and tried to feel around for a glass of water, but came up dry. It was then that he noticed the IV attached to his hand. He couldn't see it, due to the darkness, but he could feel it pinching his vein, which throbbed painfully from the weight and pull of the needle. He also detected the overwhelming smell of an industrial disinfectant that he could tell had been used to clean every surface in the immediate area.

"Hey!" he shouted, hoping a passing nurse would walk by and notice him. "Hey! I need water!" he hollered, and was once again wracked with a fit of wet coughing.

"Goddammit!" he said, tortured by the burning of each cough tearing his wound open a little more. He was dizzy, which he assumed was from the pain medication he was no doubt on, but he instinctively knew there was something else to it.

Dick was a physical guy who had endured his share of sports-related injuries, and he knew what it felt like to be on opiates and morphine. This was that and then some.

_Something isn't right._

He felt his way around his chest to locate his injury and stopped when he felt his fingers sink into a squishy bed of blood-soaked gauze. It was a localized wound, round and fairy small - except for the pain and the blood which spread out everywhere. The volume of blood just in his bandage alone was staggering. He assumed this would accurately explain why he felt so lightheaded.

As the owner of a chain of gun ranges, he knew exactly what kind of weapon could have caused bodily damage of this nature. He had seen it, up close and in the buff. Not everybody at the range was the crack shot they thought they were, and every now and then a reckless idiot would walk in and nearly blow his own head off.

The morons usually hit their own feet, but every so often somebody would really lose control of their weapon and a bullet ended up lodging somewhere really unfortunate. He'd never had any fatalities on his watch, but a self-inflicted gunshot incident was always a good wake up call for the weekenders who thought gunplay was just for fun, like an afternoon of grown up 'Cowboys and Indians'.

Dick could be a goof-off sometimes, but when it came to weapons, he was as serious as a slug to the head. He had to be.

_I am hella-fucked up, man. How did this happen? I feel like I was hit by a truck or something, and I know for sure I got winged by a gun._

Heavy footsteps approached from the outside of the door and he could hear a deadbolt being undone.

_Why the fuck am I locked in? What kind of hospital is this?_

"Mr. Casablancas?" a male voice called out from the darkness. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, dude. Where the hell am I? What happened to me?" Dick croaked out to his mystery visitor.

"Close your eyes," the man said, before switching on a high beam light surrounding a magnifying glass, hanging directly over Dick's bed.

Dick squinted at the light, trying in vain to make out the features of the man caring for him. He'd been in the dark too long though, and his pupils were dilated to maximum capacity.

"I'm Dr. G," Tom Griffith said in his most professional manner. "Why don't you tell me if you're in any pain?" he asked, before uncapping a bottle of water and holding it up to Dick's mouth for him to take a sip.

_I know I say it every weekend when I'm on the board, but thank God for water._

"Yeah. I mean, it feels like somebody shoved a hot poker it through my chest, and it especially sucks when I try to move," he said.

Dr. G pulled the lighted magnifying glass down toward Dick's chest and took a look at his wound. "You need to have your bandage changed."

"Who shot me?" Dick asked, his hand up in front of his face to block out the intense light.

The doctor stilled for a moment before continuing his toil. "Uh...why do you think you were shot?"

"Uh...maybe because I _was_ shot?" Dick responded with irritation.

_What is this guy trying to pull? It's fucking obvious that I was shot and he knows it._

"I own a chain of gun ranges. I know what a bullet wound looks like," he said, hoping that would end all of the pretense.

Dr. G's shadowy features expanded. "Oh. You've been shot before?"

"No, man. I haven't been shot before, so why don't you let me know who I can send flowers and candy to for taking my v-card," Dick said.

"You took a bullet to the shoulder from behind but the exit would was a lot lower in your chest because of the angle of the shot. It nicked one of your arteries, but it wasn't severed so I was able to repair it pretty easily. Seriously, one millimeter over and I'd be explaining this to the medical examiner instead of you. You still lost a lot of blood though, and it was touch and go there for a while. You're really lucky to be alive," he said. "Actually, it's kind of a miracle."

"My head feels like a time bomb." Dick brought his hands to his head and felt a long gash across his forehead. "What the hell is this? I thought you said I was shot?"

Dr. G's features slowly came into focus. He was a blandly handsome man around 50, with rimless glasses and a face that Dick instantly decided couldn't be trusted. "You got into a car accident, Mr. Casablancas. Your head hit the steering wheel and was injured, but the cut actually wasn't that deep, so I was able to use dissoluble stitches. You also have a slight concussion and some whiplash, though it would have all been a lot worse if your car didn't have the amount of airbags it did."

_Hmm. Guess that upgrade was worth the extra 5K. I will have to thank my dealer for talking me into it._

"Was this before or after I was shot?" he asked, finding the story almost impossible.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Dr. G asked.

Dick scratched his hair and his brow pinched. "Everything is foggy."

A woman's body, legs wrapped around his waist with full breasts pushed into his chest, flashed in his head. She was so soft everywhere, and he held on to her tighter than he hugs his surfboard when he attempts to do El Rollo.

_Woah. Who was that?_

"Wait! There was a chick. A hot chick, and she was all over me," he said, unsure of the reliability of his memories. He knew it could be just a fantasy, but something about it felt so real to him.

Dr. G carefully removed Dick's bandage.

"Oh fuck," Dick hissed as the air hit the wound. "That hurts like a bitch and it's massive. What did they hit me with, a Desert Eagle?"

"I don't know anything about guns, I'm sorry," the doctor said, avoiding eye contact. "You mentioned something about a woman?"

Dick closed his eyes and could feel his dream woman's lips on his neck, soft and firm all at the same time. He could almost remember what she tasted like, but every time he tried to picture her face, he drew a blank. "Yeah, she was a total hottie. She wasn't the one who tried to off me, was she?"

The wound was cleaned and packed, and a new bandage was applied. "I'm just the doctor here."

Dick felt his forehead again and forced the doctor to make eye contact. "Where is here?"

Dr. G smiled insincerely at his patient. "Try and relax, Mr. Casablancas. Somebody who has been through the ordeal you have really needs as much rest as he can get."

With that, the doctor stood up to leave.

_What the fuck? He's just gonna leave me hanging? What a prick._

"Hey, wait! What about my emergency contact person?" Dick asked.

Dr. G seemed conflicted for a moment, but then sat back down. "Look, I can't promise anything," he whispered, looking furtively over his shoulder for signs of company. "But if you give me the person's name and number, I'll see what I can do, okay?" he asked, pulling a pen and small notepad out from the pocket of his medical whites.

Dick smiled in relief. "Thanks, man. I owe you big time. You have no idea how happy this makes me."

"The name?" Dr. G asked, pen poised over the pad to write.

He cleared his scratchy throat. "His name is Logan Echolls."

Griffith bristled and looked up at his patient with repudiation. "That's your emergency contact person?"

"Yeah. Do you need me to spell it for you?" Dick asked in earnest.

The doctor expelled a long shuddering breath. "No. I think I've got it."

* * *

Veronica leaned her head on Logan's shoulder as he drove her car down the PCH.

"I knew we lived on the beach," she said excitedly before dropping a small kiss on his neck.

Logan wrapped his fingers around her waist and pulled her closer. "Yeah, well, I'm not the unpredictable one in this relationship."

_Oh Logan, even I can't predict what I'm going to do at any given point these days._

Veronica thought about how lucky they were to have found each other once again, and how things could have had a very different outcome, had Logan been standing just a few more feet to his right on that unexpected evening at The Neptune Grand. Instead of driving to her new home with him, she could have been crying her eyes out in solitude over his gruesome demise.

_I wonder what Mac is doing right now?_

Veronica sighed heavily and burrowed closer into Logan. "You're thinking about Mac and Dick?" he asked.

She nodded. "Do you think we should be with Mac tonight?"

He kissed her forehead and then turned his attention back to the road. "She's got Katya and Gory staying with her, so she's not alone."

Veronica snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure Gory is of great comfort to her."

Logan's chest shook with laughter under her hand. "Okay, his bedside manner is lacking, but Katya's there with her and you told me that she's pretty great. Plus, it's a good distraction for Mac to have people there."

"I guess. At the very least, it's definitely safer for Katya to be at Mac's. There's no way Daddy Sorokin or Petrenko would suspect their kids were hiding out there. They're basically strangers," she rationalized.

Logan pulled into the driveway of his beachfront home and parked the old Saturn directly in front. He turned to her and cupped her face with one hand. "You look sleepy." She nodded. "I'll come around and help you out," he said as he opened up his door.

With double-height ceilings and two walls entirely made of glass, Veronica's new home left her speechless.

_Holy shit. I'm living in one of those featured homes on the cover of Architectural Digest._

"I know what you're thinking, and I want to assure you've I've got it covered. Literally," he said.

"Huh?" she asked, without turning her head away from the house.

"Those two sides have electronic blinds. Nobody can see inside unless we want them to," Logan said, as he slid one hand up her inner thigh.

_That was not what I was thinking at all. What I was really thinking was 'This is what 20 million dollars a picture can buy you'._

Veronica thought about how pissed Logan's dad would be if he knew she were living with him in a house paid for with his money, and felt demonically gleeful. "Did you blow your entire inheritance on this shack or what?"

"I actually haven't even touched my inheritance. I was living off of my trust for a while, and it happened to run out just when my Amanda Ares books started coming out, so in a way, _you _paid for this house," he said.

"Remind me to thank myself later," she said.

Logan made his way to the other side of the car, opened Veronica's door and knelt down next to her. "Hi beautiful. May I present to you, Chez Echolls...or I guess it's Chez Mars-Echolls now."

Veronica smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Have I mentioned lately how absolutely head over heels in love with you I am?"

Logan's breath hitched in his throat and he grinned like an idiot at her. "It still feels like you've got to be talking to somebody else when you say things like that."

_God, I was a shitty girlfriend to you before._

"I was, Logan. He's right behind you," she said, and pointed over his shoulder. His mouth settled into an admonishing line and she responded by kissing that line until she could feel his shoulders start to relax under her hands. "I'd like to see our bedroom first. I want to see where I sleep nowadays."

Logan grabbed Veronica's waist and lifted her to her feet. "Fine, but I'm not showing you where we sleep, I'm showing you where we _make love,_" he said, purposely trying to get a rise out of her with his word choice.

"_I'm gonna make love to ya woman. Gonna lay you down by the fire, and caress your womanly body, make you moan and perspire, gonna keep those juices flowin. We makin love gravy love gravy love love love love love gravy!_," Veronica sang in Barry White's indelible bass.

"I'm Barry White again?" Logan asked with amusement.

"Nope. This time you're Barry White as Chef from 'South Park'," she said with a self-satisfied grin.

He ran a thumb over her cheekbone. "There's no safe way out of this conversation, is there?"

"The only safe way out...is in," Veronica said, pointing at the front door. She took one step toward the house and stumbled, grabbing Logan's chest to steady herself.

He brushed her hair from her face. "What's wrong?"

She shrugged. "It's nothing. I got up too fast, just a little dizzy."

Logan frowned. "Why are you dizzy? When's the last time you ate something?"

Veronica looked contrite. "Do Jolly Ranchers count? No? Then...it was probably when I ate a Ho Ho at a roadside gas station around 2am."

_Though I'm pretty certain that I puked that up just before I wrapped a bunch of cooking twine around my mother's wrists and arrested her like a common criminal._

He rolled his eyes at her. "Are you a dude living in a frat house? This is how you existed the entire time you were in Virginia? Did you ever eat a hot meal?"

"I tried, but every time I called up room service to get my free-range buffalo burger delivered, they reminded me that I lived in a navy barracks," she said. "And later on, at the field office where I worked, they only had an Ethiopian restaurant nearby, and I just can't abide that 'Sham-Wow!' spongy bread material they use as a fork. I think it's a textural issue..."

"Mock me all you want, kitten, but I'm not the one with all of the color drained from my face," Logan said.

"Ugh. Honestly Logan, you're such a mother...hen," Veronica groaned.

"Hey!" He looked deeply offended for a moment, until his brain caught up with his ears. "I totally thought you were going to end that sentence a different way."

She threw her head back and laughed. "I think that word is just always on the tip of your brain."

Logan pulled himself into her by her belt loops, then dipped his knees and pressed her into the closed car door with his pelvis, before opening his mouth to speak.

"You're about to make some gross quip about me being on your 'tip', right?" Veronica asked, unimpressed.

He let out a puff of air and stared at her. "Banter works much better when more than one person is involved, Veronica."

She felt his erection pressing into her hip and her eyes darkened with lust. "I know something else that works a lot better when two people are involved," she said, and tried to to slip her hands down the back of his jeans.

Logan stopped her cold. "Sorry kid, but the first thing I'm going to do to you in that house is feed you."

_Grr!_

Veronica pouted. "What happened to me being on your 'tip'?"

"Who says we can't do both at the same time?" Logan waggled his eyebrows.

She groaned and smacked his arm. "So gross."

"It happens to contain a lot of protein," he said.

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that's really not its best selling point."

_I can think of a number of other selling points..._

Logan touched his forehead to hers and sigh contentedly. "Welcome home," he said, letting his lips drift delicately over hers.

Veronica's breathing became staggered and she licked the salt air and the taste of him from her lips. "Take me upstairs before I embarrass you on our front lawn."

* * *

**A/N - I know. I got you all worked up and then left you hanging. Apologies! I swear you'll be getting a full serving of smutty LoVe at the top of the next chapter, and it will be hot.**

**Meanwhile - what did you think of their reunion? Mac's reaction to the news about Dick? Celeste meeting Lilly? Dick and Griffith - for some reason, my favorite part to write this chapter - maybe I just missed Dick?**

**Sound off in the reviews section and let me know your thoughts. As always, many thanks to those of you reading, reviewing, marking this fic as a favorite, putting it on alert - you all are amazing and supportive and it is all much appreciated! Please keep leaving comments :)**

**PS - Anybody get the VM Valhalla reference?**


	34. Chapter 34

**Not a ton of reviews for the last chapter, so I'm guessing it wasn't your favorite, but hopefully you're going to like this chapter a lot. Please let me know.**

**PS – I know it seemed like Veronica was leaving Mac in a lurch, but she actually ****_couldn't _****go on much longer in her physical state (2 emotional days awake in a row). **

**Dalwriter helpfully pointed out that an extra scene where somebody told her to go home would have made it clearer, so I added a little extra to the end of the V/Mac scene to make the exit seem less like she was ditching Mac. I really * do * carefully regard each and every one of your reviews, so keep 'em coming :)**

**This chapter is rated M for sMut.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 34**

Veronica flipped from her stomach to her back as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway toward the bedroom.

Logan entered the room and tiptoed quietly over to his night table, lifting the iPad he kept on hand for his frequent bouts of insomnia. He opened an app, tapped loudly a few times on the screen, and the glass wall in front of him morphed from opaque to clear.

As the sunlight streamed into the room unchecked, Veronica groaned and threw her arms over her head. "That's it...I'm moving out..." she said with a lack of conviction.

He laughed and crawled onto the bed beside her. "All you've done here so far is eat and pass out. You're giving up on me already?"

She rolled to her side and smiled at him from under the protective shade of her forearm. "Giving up on electronic curtains, not giving up on Chez Mars-Echolls, which, I'm thinking we should probably come up with a catchier name for. I'm thinking Casa Erotico..."

"Both catchy and classy, I like it. It will also be a delight to say aloud when your dad wants to visit, and asks me for directions to the house where I've been plowing his unmarried daughter on a nightly basis." Logan ducked his head under Veronica's arm to join her.

_Nightly plowing? Check, please!_

The corners of her mouth picked up as she chuckled internally at his choice of words. "I'm going to be 'plowed' on a nightly basis? And they say romance is dead."

"'Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of fiction and love.' Isaac Disraeli," he said, punctuating his quote with a chaste peck on the cheek.

"Good thing I'm being 'plowed' by a writer then," Veronica said, her eyes drifting toward the painting above the bed, opposite the now unobscured glass wall.

The sun was low in the sky, casting the room in a flattering, salmon-colored light that refracted off the framed glass encasing Logan's prized Picasso charcoal sketch of an angry woman lying wantonly on a bed. Veronica had been staring at it on and off during her fitful nap and briefly came to the conclusion that either she or Picasso had a multiple personality disorder.

_Is Logan trying to tell me something? __Why is it so dark out already?_

Her brow furrowed and she turned her face to him. "How long was I out?"

Logan tried to iron out the crease between her eyes with his thumb.

"Logan. How long was I out?" she repeated with a slight edge.

He sighed, dreading her inevitable reaction. "You've been asleep for six hours."

"What?" She buried both of her hands in her hair and tugged sharply to wake herself up. "I told you not to let me sleep more than four!"

Logan tried to stroke her face but she pulled out of reach. "Veronica, I tried, but you wouldn't get up."

"Why didn't you try harder?" she yelled as she bolted up to a sitting position. "Every hour we lose is an hour we don't know where Dick is."

"We know where Dick is. At least, we think we do," Logan said. "Leo's been staked out at The Red Room all day and he saw a couple of large machines being brought in through the back door. They were under a sheet, but they could have been medical. Your dad ran the plates on those two motorcycles, and discovered that they were registered to one of Petrenko's shell companies."

"You knew all of this and you let me sleep through it?"

He ran his hand roughly over his face. "The whole point was for you to rest. I know it's hard to believe the world keeps spinning while Veronica Mars snoozes, but it does. They had it handled."

"So what are they waiting for then?" Veronica snapped.

"As you can imagine, Petrenko's got some friends in high places. They're having a little trouble getting a warrant to search the place," he said.

"Warrant? We don't need no stinking warrants!" she said in a poorly executed Mexican accent.

"I can't believe you've been holding out on me with this flawless El Guapo impersonation. You flatter the country of Mexico with your homage," Logan said. "Maybe we should invite Weevil over to hear it?"

Veronica pursed her lips to show him she meant business. "I'm serious, Logan. If Dick is in The Red Room, I'll just sneak back in and bust him out of the po-po. I know my way around."

He scoffed, leveling at her a look that could ignite a brush fire. "No way, Veronica. That's not even up for discussion."

_Excuse moi? Not this old song again. God, I really thought it was going to be different this time._

Her eyes grew large. "I'm sorry. I wasn't under the impression that I needed to discuss anything with you before I did it. I'll be sure to add that rule to our relationship bylaws."

"Perfect. Make sure you add a caveat forbidding the reckless endangerment of people small enough to be mistaken for minors." Logan frowned and let himself fall back onto the bed, then stared up at the ceiling in deep thought.

"What? So, you're giving me the silent treatment now?" she asked, her hackles raised to red alert.

_How dare he behave like I'm the one who's in the wrong. He's acting like a caveman! It was bad enough when we were at Hearst, but I'm an FBI agent now. I can actually protect myself and it's my job to help kidnap victims escape. Who does he think he is?_

"I'm not giving you the silent treatment, Bob, I've just got nothing more to say," he said, closing his eyes to her.

_How is he making me feel guilty about this? I shouldn't feel guilty. I'm a grown woman, for Christ's sake, and I can make my own decisions._

"Oh, okay. Good to know," she said cryptically.

Logan exhaled his exasperation. "I'll bite. What, pray tell, could you be referring to?"

"You know, how whenever I don't do what you want me to do, you're first reaction is to pout like a little bitch."

His lids flipped open and he raised an amused eyebrow at her. "I'm a little bitch?"

_This is getting ridiculous._

Veronica gave a petulant shrug.

Logan flipped onto his stomach and stretched himself over to her side of the bed. "You have quite a foul mouth, Ms. Mars," he whispered into her ear. "If you're not careful, it could get you into all kinds of trouble."

Her neck tingled everywhere his breath hit and she closed her eyes to keep him from seeing how it was affecting her.

_Shit. He's playing dirty. I can't give in. He needs to know he can't just push me around if I try to do something he doesn't approve of._

"Probably nothing I haven't handled before."

Logan smiled wider than the Cheshire Cat and placed one of his legs between hers. "Oh, I know you've handled it before. You've got a talent for it. If I remember correctly, you're pretty good in a jam." On the last word, he brought his knee up tightly against her core, causing her to pull a sharp intake of air.

_Dammit! Stay strong, girl! Feminists everywhere are counting on you. _

Veronica's breathing became staggered, momentarily derailed by the sweet musk of Logan's skin so close to her face, but she remained as still as a frozen pond, eyes tightly closed like a newborn kitten's. His hands traveled up the length of her body and settled on her tank-top clad breasts. Slowly, he dragged his fingertips lightly, back and forth over her pebbled buds until they puckered.

_Fuck._

"Tell me this: what would _you_ do if you were in danger of losing the one thing you loved most in this world?" he asked very seriously, his face perched just inches above her own. "Would you stand by and do nothing...or would you hold onto it as tightly as you could? I'm the kind of guy who's going to grab on tight."

He pinched hard with both fingers and Veronica gasped, her chest rising off the bed involuntarily.

_Think about Gloria Steinem! Susan B. Anthony!_

Heat pooled between her legs and began to radiate throughout her body. "If you hold something too tightly, you can crush it. If you pull a knot too hard, the string will break."

_Crap. Now, I'm just babbling._

One of Logan's hands traveled down and stroked her through her cotton underwear. "I don't want to break your string, Ronnie," he said, slipping his fingers under the flimsy strip of material and plunging into her wetness. "I'm not trying to crush you. Not like that, anyway..."

"Oh God..."

_Oh God. Get it together, girl! Don't let him win this one, it's too important._

He brought his mouth to one of her breasts and teased her through her shirt with his teeth. "I just can't let you walk out the front door, knowing there's a good chance you'd get yourself hurt...or worse." He pressed insistent kisses all the way to her neck as he slipped another finger inside of her and sped up his ministrations. "I'm not going to do it."

_I can barely hear when when you do that. Kind of shooting yourself in the foot there, puppy._

Veronica grit her teeth and whimpered through closed lips. "It's not your job to 'let' me do anything!" she rasped, fighting valiantly to keep her hands glued to her sides. "That would imply that I needed your permission, and I don't."

She could feel herself loosing control as her insides vibrated, pulsing erratically as they careened toward their inevitable conclusion.

Logan cupped her face in one hand and she opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm desperate, okay?" He laughed nervously and his fingers delved further and harder into her with each stroke. "The thought of something happening to you makes me feel sick, and when you go off half-cocked without accepting any help, well..." He looked away from her.

_Oh Logan..._

At the unforgiving pace he was going, Veronica was sure she would fall apart whether she wanted to or not. "Me too," she managed to squeak out as her breathing became more staccato. "When I didn't know where you were last night, I felt like I couldn't breathe."

His eyes were soft now, the anger they held before was long gone. "I don't want to lose you, I love you. I love you, Veronica, and if you love me, you'll think about how your actions affect other people."

Unable to hold on any longer, Veronica broke free of her own, invisible prison and grasped Logan's face, bringing his lips to her. She kissed him deeply, with no control or agenda, just unbridled passion.

"I love you too, Logan. I swear I do!"

White light formed behind Veronica's eyes as she fiercely climaxed against his hand, moaning his name in his ear at a deafening volume.

_Put a fork in me, I'm done._

Flushed and slick from sweat, Veronica placed a hand across her chest and felt her heart thump forcefully onto her ribcage at a rabbit's speed. "That was...interesting."

Logan pulled his hand away and stuck his two fingers in his mouth.

_Oh. My. God. _

"I take it back. _That_ was interesting," she said, a sly smile painted across her face.

"Interesting huh?" Logan asked as he cuddled up to her on his side.

Veronica combed her fingers through his thick hair, enjoying the cool strands running through her fingers. "I'm sorry, Logan, about before. For not including you in my decisions."

He burrowed his head into her chest and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm sorry too, baby. I could work on my delivery a bit more."

"I don't want you to worry any more than you have to...which is obviously going to be a lot, considering this is you and me. I've just been on my own for so long, that I think I'm just going to have to 'relearn the ways of your people'," Veronica said in alien vernacular.

"To 'relearn' would imply that you had once mastered the skill," Logan said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm giving you the win, Echolls. Time to pack it in."

He leaned over and peppered her mouth with lazy kisses. "Thanks. I know it's not exactly second nature for you."

"Or third."

Logan laughed. "I just can't believe you're really here with me, that this is really happening." He lifted up her shirt slowly, leaving a trail of kisses in it's wake. "Everybody thought I was crazy for pining after you for so long, but I knew you'd be back. In my marrow, I knew we'd find our way to each other again."

"You did?" Veronica looked deeply into his brown eyes, still open and trusting after so many years of abuse and neglect, with a capacity to love that knew no bounds, and her heart swelled with affection for him. She breathed in his scent and tried to memorize it.

_How does he do it?_

"It's not like I had any other choice but to wait for you. There's only one Veronica Mars, right?"

"I certainly hope so," she said impishly. "For your sake."

* * *

Mac sat on the couch in her living room with her legs curled up underneath her. "I'm looking forward to it too," she said into the phone, trying to seem both professional and not at the same time. "I'll see you then, Mr. Petrenko. (pause) Okay, I'll see you then, _Alexei._" She blushed and ended the call.

_This isn't a date, you freak, so stop acting like it. This is a covert ops mission to find out what happened to the guy that you actually like._

Katya regarded Mac with a wary eye. "Please say you not interested in my father."

Mac was taken aback, shocked and ashamed that she'd reacted in a way that would give her that impression. "I am not interested in your father."

_...even though he's probably the best looking guy I've ever seen up close and he runs one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Face it, Mac, if you were 12, you'd have a poster of Alexei Petrenko on your wall...right up there next to Steve Jobs in his younger days. _

He was a fantasy to her at one point, but the reality of what he was capable of made her feel slightly sick.

Katya sighed her relief. "If he was my brother and not my father, I don't mind, but...you are same age as me, yes?"

"Yes. No, I get it. Believe me, I would be super skeeved out if my dad was creeping on one of my acquaintances, too," she said, realizing a little too late that she just inadvertently implied that Katya's dad was a sleazebag.

Katya became mildly defensive. "I mean, of course, he is attractive man."

"Very!" Mac said a little too enthusiastically, causing Gory to choke from laughter on his drink.

The gorgeous blonde flipped her hair and smiled at her host. "I can see why he like you though. You are smart, funny, and have very beautiful eyes, pretty face."

Mac weathered the compliment with a characteristic discomfort and begged the universe to intervene. The last thing she wanted to do was go on a date tonight, much less discuss her prospects with her 'paramour's' daughter. "Thanks..."

"But you like that man...um, the silly, blond guy, no?" she asked.

Thoughts of her last moments with Dick flooded her mind. The forceful way he claimed her mouth like Neil Armstrong staking the moon with an American flag, the way his skin smelled like the ocean, the feeling of his sinewy back muscles flexing under her hands...

_Oh God. What if I never get to touch him again?_

Mac shrugged and a hollow feeling settled in the base of her stomach. "Yeah, I suppose I do like the silly, blond guy."

_I just admitted that out loud to another human being. Shit. I guess that must make it true._

Gory finished up the rest of his drink and deposited his empty glass on the coffee table. "I still can't believe you're going out tonight with Katya's dad. It's funny, because you're not usually Alexei's type."

"What's his type?" Mac asked, not sure if she was insecure that she might not measure up or flattered that he'd made an exception for her.

_The answer is 'embarrassed' that you care so much, you idiot, especially when he's probably responsible for whatever happened to Dick. Not exactly the opportune moment to let your insecurity banner fly unchecked._

Gory hooked his thumb in the direction of his girlfriend and made a wet raspberry noise. "Don't read too much into it, though."

Katya shrugged, giving Mac a resigned look that said 'men will be men'.

Mac recoiled with the implication. "One would assume Katya is every man's type," she said, eying the foreigner's endless legs. "You know...except for maybe her father's."

Gory smirked and threw an arm around his girlfriend. "Yeah. Good thing he's not a pervert."

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Mac rose from her chair. "Anybody need something from the kitchen?"

"I'll help you," Gory offered, leaping up from the couch abruptly and trailing behind her.

_Uh...thanks? No way does this offer of help not come with a followup request_.

Mac glanced over her shoulder curiously, before pushing open the door to the kitchen. "Came here to help me fetch some ice, did you?" she asked without bothering to turn around.

A mischievous glint flickered in Gory's eyes. "You got me. I'm not domestic, but to be fair, we always paid people to take care of that kind of stuff for us."

_Huh. He's kind of cute when he's not being a total scumbag. I guess I can sort of see what Katya sees in him...on the outside, at least._

"Must be nice never having to do your own dirty work," she said while unloading the dishwasher. "Though you'll probably have to learn how if you're going to be living off the grid. You can't exactly schlepp a servant with you from country to country."

Gory waved a hand in the air. "We'll eat out. It'll save me from learning to cook and from having to clean up, not that me cleaning is remotely within the realm of possibilities. Have you lived here long?" He looked around the kitchen, touching various items. "Not bad for a place with no doorman," he said, his natural charm oozing out in the form of a toothsome smile.

_There's no way Gory Sorokin does small talk, and if he did, he definitely wouldn't bother doing it with somebody like her. He definitely has an agenda, but what? The first Star Wars movie felt like it had less of a prologue than this conversation. Get. To. The. Point_.

Mac slammed the wooden cabinet door shut a little too roughly. Her nerves were on edge from the day's events and she wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. "Look Gory, don't take this personally, but I'm kind of tired, so can we speed up the preamble to whatever it is you plan on asking me? I mean, I know you're not here to help me do chores."

Gory dropped the pretense and huddled closer to her. "Mac, I actually would like to help you. Not with the dishes, obviously, because...yuck, but I want to help you find Casablancas."

Was she so impotent to do anything that even Gory could tell she needed a life raft? She hated being a mess, a jumble of raw edges and exposed wires. It wasn't her...except that it was now, and had been since the moment Dick first kissed her the night before.

Mac brought her fingers to her lips and could almost still feel them tingling with excitement. Like it or not, it had been the best kiss of her life, and despite how much easier life would be just to scrub the experience from her brain, it was real. And she wanted to do it again.

_And again...and again...and again..._

She'd been with enough guys to know what good sex felt like, but she had never felt true passion before – hadn't even known that it existed much outside of fairy tales. In fact, the only time she had seen it in person was with Logan and Veronica, but they lived every aspect of their lives intensely. Too intensely.

Mac wasn't sure she had the stomach for the agonizing lows that inevitably accompanied those roller-coaster highs. She wasn't built like her friends, and would gladly sacrifice a little ecstasy for some good, old-fashioned happiness. She always expected that she would have to, because didn't everybody?

That was before last night, when Dick kissed her and broke a spell that Mac didn't even know she was under. She had been sleepwalking through life, afraid of anything that made her feel emotionally uncomfortable and frightened of taking personal risks.

_Now Dick is Prince Charming? Seriously, self, get a grip._

Things had always been pretty awkward between Dick and Mac. Before recent events brought them together, she had successfully avoided him like a bad cold for years, assuming all along that their clash was a result of them not liking each other. How was she supposed to know that the prickliness between them was actually because they did?

What a sick joke it was to find out that the guy least likely to invade her fantasies had morphed into the living embodiment of them?

"Hello?" Gory said, waving a hand in front of Mac's face. "Where'd you go?"

Mac crossed her arms over her chest and appraised Gory's sincerity. "Why do you want to help me?"

He shrugged and leaned against the wall. "I guess I kind of feel a little responsible for what happened."

"Why would you be responsible?" Mac narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

His leg bounced impatiently. "Not like that! I mean, you know, I'm sort of the man who triggered the avalanche of crap to begin with by hiring Mars."

She didn't answer, just watched him carefully for signs of nefarious body language.

Gory ran his hand through his hair with agitation. "Hey, I don't have to help you. You can do all of this crap on your own, if that's what you're about. I just, you know, I owe Mars. She got Katya back, so I thought I'd return the favor."

_Not sure if I should trust this guy, but do I have a choice? If he can help me find Dick, I have to at least hear him out._

"I'm listening," Mac said.

"Petrenko's office is downstairs in the club. It's not his corporate office, obviously, but it's where he gets his 'real' business done, if you get what I'm saying. The staircase is hidden and isn't well lit for obvious reasons. You'll need instructions on how to locate it. When you first get down there, it'll just look like an ordinary cellar, but as you go deeper into it, it starts to vaguely feel like you're walking into some kind of 'Silence of the Lambs' shit, but it really looks worse than it is," he said.

"You're telling me that Petrenko works out of a serial killer's basement?" she asked with trepidation.

He rolled his neck and murmured a mantra under his breath, which Mac assumed to be a stress-relief technique of some sort.

_Did he just say 'Om Nemah Shivaya'? Definitely would not have pegged Gory as the type to go in for the yogi lifestyle, but then again, dude has the worst hair-trigger temper I've ever seen. Maybe Katya threatened to withhold sex until he chilled the fuck out?_

Gory took a deep, cleansing breath and continued. "I'm saying that whatever Inspector Gadget crap you and the little blonde are cooking up, it will probably lead your asses down there. It's where he keeps his personal computer, where all of the metaphorical bodies are buried...and quite possibly some real ones. I'm offering to draw you a map. Is that cool?"

_If it'll help me find Dick, it's as cool as the Iditarod._

Mac's dimples reluctantly made an appearance. "Yeah, that's cool."

* * *

_Dick pulled his SUV onto the shoulder of the road and cut the motor._

"_Is this the part of the date where you pretend that you've run out of gas and then yawn really big, so you can sneak your arm around my shoulders?" the woman asked, kicking her shoes to the floor of the car._

"_I need an excuse now to put my arm around your shoulders?" Dick wondered to himself aloud. _

_She thought about it for a moment. _

_He frowned. "You didn't seem to need an excuse when I had my hand in your - -"_

_She reached over to the car radio and flicked the switch before he could finish his sentence. Sinatra's 'Fly Me to the Moon' started to play softly over the speakers._

"_Can't get enough of 'The Chairman'?" he asked. "This is the third time you've played this song today, babe, though I guess I should be thankful it isn't 'Mack the Knife' again."_

"_It's your dad's CD," she said, propping her bare feet up against the glove compartment. "I can't help it if it's always in the player. Like, I'm beginning to wonder if you own anything else."_

_Dick laughed and rubbed a hand over one of her creamy, pale knees. "You love it. Admit it, Sinatra reminds you of me."_

_She let out a chuckle. "You have nothing in common with Frank Sinatra, Dick."_

"_We both love the ladies," he said, letting his hand drift northward up her thigh._

"_Yeah. You, Sinatra and 50% of the world's population. By your rationale, Parker would have also reminded me of Sinatra during her 'experimental period' our junior year in college," she said, then started to sing along to the track. "Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. In other words, hold my hand. In other words, baby, kiss me..." She batted her inky lashes at him coyly._

_Dick's large hand dug greedily into a mass of dark silky hair, and a pair of wide, eyes stared up at him with shock and another emotion he couldn't really identify. Her eyes were as blue as cornflowers and ten times as beautiful._

_He leaned forward and touched their lips together, gingerly at first, until he felt her hand wrap around the back of his neck and he deepened the kiss._

"_I think I like us being friends," he said between kisses._

"_I'll bet you say that to all the girls," she said, climbing across the console to mount his lap._

_Dick shook his head. "No, though I probably would have if I knew it could've gotten me laid."_

"_Who says you're getting laid?" The woman's hand touched a button on the door and the driver's seat jerked all the way back, taking Dick and his girlfriend with it. "I envisioned that being a lot sexier in my head."_

"_Fear not, babe, my junk obviously thought it was sexy." His hands settled on her waist and he bucked his hardening length against her inner thigh. _

_She made a disgusted expression. "You might want to reconsider which euphemisms you choose to use for your penis if you ever want me to put it in my mouth again."_

_His face dropped. "I'll call it anything you want to get you to put it in your mouth. I'll even refer to it as 'un courageux explorateur' if it'll get you to suck on it."_

_She shook her head. "See...you say something super gross, but then you throw in a little French and I'm all turned on again just like any other broad. I'm an embarrassment to my gender. How do you even know French, Dick? Mon dieu!" _

_Dick grinned up at her with admiration."You're different than the chicks I usually like."_

"_Because my boobs are real?" she asked._

_He smiled boyishly at her and wondered why he suddenly felt shy for the first time in his life. "Nah, it's because everything about you is real."_

"_Oh." She blushed, then walked her fingers down the valley of his chest until she reached the zipper on his jeans. "Just when I think I've got your number, you have to go and change it again..." She sighed, pretending to be put out._

"_Shouldn't be a problem for you," he said, thrusting himself against her core again. "You always were pretty good with numbers."_

_He reached up to brush the hair from her face so he could see it better, but before his fingers could make contact, the sound of loud gunfire charged through the car, tearing through the white leather upholstery and riddling his woman's chest with bullets. _

Dick woke with a start and looked around the dark room with confusion.

As exhausted as he was, he was still having a tough time finding sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a spell. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see her, this nameless, faceless woman who was haunting his dreams.

The dreams always started out the same way: they were together somewhere and he was happy, feeling more comfortable than he'd ever been with a woman. He wasn't sure if the memory was real or imagined, but it was better than anything he'd experienced while awake.

He would kiss her, then they would usually start to fool around, but before things could get good, something violent would always happen, leaving one or both of them soaked in their own blood.

This latest dream was the realest one yet, reducing him to a gasping pile of jello.

_Why was she wearing a shirt that said 'Byte Me'?_

His head was throbbing, but he welcomed the pain, it was the only thing that successful distracted him from his dark thoughts. Dick's left hand drifted to the bullet wound on his shoulder and he winced.

_Was I shot in my car? Was she shot too?_

_._

The door to his room opened, rudely jerking him from his musings.

"How is the patient feeling?" Dr. G asked as he approached Dick's bedside. "Have you been using the painkillers?"

He held up the medication release button that was currently in his hand. "Can this shit...I mean stuff, give you, like, nightmares?"

"Some people find they do. They are opiates, after all." The doctor removed the wet bandage and took a peek at the wound. Dick shuddered as a hit of chilly air burned his exposed skin. "Why? Are you having nightmares?"

_My mind is not a happy destination at the moment, dude._

"I keep seeing this chick. I mean, I can see her, and I clearly know her, but I can't get a good look at her face. Just her eyes," he said.

"Well, maybe that's a start, what color were they?" the doctor asked, keeping the conversation going to distract his patient from the pain as nurses often do.

Dick smiled at the memory. "They're blue, man, but they're not just normal blue, you know? Her eyes are the color of the sea in Shark's Cove off the coast of Oahu."

Dr. G raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That's pretty specific. You can remember the color of the water in Shark's Cove, but have no idea who this girl is?"

"What do you think it means?" Dick asked.

"I think it means you hit your head on a steering wheel," he said.

"Funny, dude, I get it." Dick rolled his eyes. "So like, are opiates in the 'magic mushroom' family, 'cause...you know...just asking?"

An amused Dr. G shook his head and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "The bleeding seems to have slowed down considerably, and that's good news since you probably lost about three pints of blood by the time they brought you to me last night. Most grown men have about 12 in their body, so you were cutting it close. This is really good news," the doctor reiterated with a smile.

_Three pints? Damn. I can't even drink three pints of beer without having to take a whizz. That's a lot of fucking blood!_

"Awesome," Dick said, releasing the breath he'd been holding in to cope with the searing pain. "I was always good at healing."

"People your age usually are," Griffith said with affection. "My daughter was always right back up again after an injury."

"How old's your kid?" he asked.

The doctor packed the wound with fresh gauze, causing Dick to involuntarily jerk backward. "She's a few years younger than you."

"What does she do?" Dick hissed through the discomfort.

"She's just finishing up her undergrad. She got an athletic scholarship to Brown," he said. "Wants to go into sport's medicine, work for a pro team...at least, that's what her mother tells me via her texts..."

"Nice. Did your daughter grow up in Neptune? What high school did she go to?"

Dr. G kept his head down and finished taping the bandage. "She went to Neptune High."

Something about the good doctor began to nag at Dick. When they first met, he thought the man looked familiar, but he didn't think too much about it, since the guy had one of those faces that looked like everybody and nobody simultaneously. But learning that he went to school with the doc's daughter was giving him pause.

_I swear I know this guy from somewhere. How the hell do I know him? Did I date his daughter or something? _

"No way, man. I went there too. What's her name? If she's hot, I probably dated her," he said.

The doctor's phone rang and he held his finger up as he answered the call. "Yeah? (pause) I'm with him right now. (pause) No. (pause) Okay, I'll be right there." Dr. G ended the call and tossed his phone onto the counter. "Sorry Mr. Casablancas, duty calls."

The doctor crossed to the door of Dick's room and turned the lights down to half-mast. "Try and get some sleep if you can. You need your strength."

"Wait!" he called out, hoping to stop him before he shut the door.

Dr. G poked his head back in. "You needed something?"

"You never told me your daughter's name. I thought maybe...I don't know. Does she have wicked blue eyes?" Dick asked jokingly.

"My daughter hasn't lived in Neptune for a long time, about five or six years, so I doubt she's the one you're dreaming about. Get some rest, Mr. Casablancas."

Dr. G placed his hand on the door knob and held it there for a moment. "Her name is Hannah," he said quickly, before pulling the door shut behind him.

_Hannah G? Surprisingly, I don't think I ever fucked a Hannah before. Not sober enough to remember it, anyway. I think Logan might've hooked up with a Hannah once, but her dad was the..._

"Fuck..." Dick's eyes drifted to the doctor's abandoned phone on the counter, just out of reach.

He tried to sit up, but every attempt to move make him feel like somebody was taking an ice pick to his chest. "Fuck!"

_This is hella-bad news. If this guy is who I think he is, I'm being held by the Fitzpatricks. But...Ronnie's dad put most of those assholes in jail a few years ago, so it couldn't be them. Right?_

Dick looked at the phone again and tried to figure out a way of getting to it.

_Why did mob-doc leave his phone though? Nobody just tosses their cell onto a counter and books it. Is he trying to help me or mess with me? Man, I gotta call Logan..._

"...oh."

_I'm gonna assume the doctor didn't call my emergency contact person._

He suddenly felt safer being whacked over and over again in his sleep than being kept alive and awake where he was right now.

* * *

**A/N – if you're a Party Down fan (and if you love VM, you really should be!), the entire cast is in the new season of the web series Burning Love. The first season starred Vinnie Van Lowe and Kristen Bell guest starred. The new one is even funnier IMO. Can't post a link b/c of ff but if you google 'burning love season 2' it should come up. If you're a fan of Ryan Hansen/Dick Casablancas, you do not want to miss this, because he is hilarious and looks FINE in it.**

**Special thanks to my FF wing(wo)man silverlining2k6!**

**Hope to hear from everybody – I get a huge thrill whenever a new review alert comes up (yes, this is me shilling for reviews again!). I have no shame.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Happy birthday Lea12! You asked, and now you shall receive. This chapter is dedicated to you :)**

**Just wanted to clear up for those who have questioned – VM has been an agent for about 18 months - the last two months on leave. She left Neptune five years ago – she spent the first three she was gone at Georgetown finishing college, then nine months training at the academy, and the rest of the time working as a rookie field agent. She's by no means an experienced agent, and though brilliant, frankly isn't cut out to be one (she's always going rogue!). My point is, she's green, not an expert - in that, at least.**

**Okay, I seriously busted my ass to bring you this one - so pardon any typos. It's loooong**** (the longest yet!) and is action packed, so please let me know what you think. ****Thanks so much for sticking with this and for continuing to give so much fab feedback, it means the world to me.**

**PS - I'm 20 reviews away from breaking 600! YEEHAW.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 35**

Veronica was wrapped around Logan's middle, with her her face buried into his sternum.

"You're not falling asleep on me are you?" Logan asked the shapeless form pooled on his chest. He stroked the top of her head a few times to wake her up.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I've never been this tired in my life," she said, her words muffled by his shirt.

"Well, bobcat, you were sleeping on concrete for nearly a week and then on the run for two days. Humans need sleep, even super-humans like you." He kissed the top of her head.

"Sleep is for suckers," Veronica mumbled. "Have you heard from Mac at all?"

"She sent a text. Something about having a hot date with Petrenko tonight." His brow furrowed. "What does one wear on a date with a ruthless oligarch who dabbles in organized crime? I've been trying to get her to wear more skirts lately..."

_Back up._

Veronica rolled over and stared up at Logan. "I'm sorry. I thought I just heard you say Mac has a date with Petrenko."

Logan wore an apologetic expression.

"On her own?" She sighed and started to sit up. "I guess I should get over there then."

He pulled her back into his chest and held her there. "Your father is headed over there now to prep her, so she's well taken care of. I know you want to help, but you need to rest."

Veronica let out an exasperated growl. "I'm perfectly fine. I'm not made of china."

"You're perfectly fine? Good. Then, I guess that means you're prepared to tell me what happened with your mother today." He stared at her expectantly.

Her eyes narrowed. "By the tone of your voice, I'm going to assume that you already know what happened."

"I want to hear it from you."

"Why?"

"Veronica," Logan said, with a stern look on his face.

_Why do I always feel like I'm ten years old when he makes that face?  
_

"Why? Why is this so important to you? Can't you ever leave anything alone?"

"...says the woman who dedicated two years of her life tracking down her best friend's killer," he said.

She sighed heavily and let herself sink into his arms. "Fine. We're a matching pair of busybodies. I'm sure by the time our kids are teenagers they'll be sweeping their bedrooms for bugs every night before bed."

Logan sat up in a panic, bucking her head off of his chest in the process. "Wait. We - -we're having children?"

_Doesn't the majority of the population? Maybe he thinks I'm too selfish to parent?_

Veronica's stomach did a leap at the topic of conversation. She'd never given much thought to marriage or kids when she was younger, because she never envisioned having the kind of lifestyle that would support those choices. Now, that she'd reconnected with Logan and all but retired from the FBI, her mind was beginning to entertain all different kinds of possibilities.

"I guess not."

_Perhaps it would have been wiser to have the kid discussion before moving in together?_

He rubbed his face roughly with his hand. "Ronnie, I wasn't- -"

She felt the urge to turtle under the covers. "Can we – can we please stay on topic, Logan?" she asked, mentally kicking herself for chickening out on the needed discussion. She wasn't in the right mind frame to have any more family-related disappointment today, even if it was only disappointment in a family that never even existed. "Mac? My mother? The weather? Anything but this?"

As much as it would sadden her, she was willing to give up the idea of having a children if it came down to it. She wouldn't lose Logan from her life again, it wasn't even an option. "Please?"

Logan challenged her with his eyes, but quickly gave up the ghost. "You know, we're not magically going to be a different couple unless we try to be. I assume you want us to work this time around?"

_Why can't anything ever come easy to us like it does for other people?_

Conflicted emotions fought it out across Veronica's delicate features. He wanted her to share more of herself with him. Logically, she knew it wasn't too much to ask. In fact, it was pretty much a given for most other couples, but to her, it felt as unnatural as a Happy Meal.

Too bad it was the only way they had a shot at making it. Compartmentalizing their lives like they did in the past was a sure ticket to a Chernobyl-level relationship meltdown.

"I don't _want _us to work Logan," Veronica said, focusing hard on the angry women in the framed Picasso above the bed. "I _need_ us to work, okay? For my own sanity. I just...you're going to have to be patient with me. I can't just become a different person overnight."

Logan exhaled his relief and smiled faintly at her answer. "I don't want you to be a different person. I quite like the one I've got right here. Just move the needle over 5%."

She held back and grin and leaned in to kiss him. "In which direction?"

He grabbed her face on both sides and kissed her deeply. She could feel the blood rushing from her head to her southern hemisphere and felt intoxicated. "Has anybody ever mentioned before how good you are at this kissing thing? Too bad it's not a skill you can market."

"I believe Zagat rated me a 28, said I had 'talented hands' and called me a 'crowd pleaser'," Logan said, using air quotes before lunging forward to tug down the straps of her bra.

"A crowd-pleaser? Let's hope not." Veronica laughed and allowed him to remove her bra. As his mouth descended on the valley between her breasts, she debated whether she should do the right thing or the thing that feels the best.

_Baring your ass is much more fun than baring your soul, Veronica Mars!_

"So, do you still want to talk about what happened with my mom?" She looked down and met a pair of surprised eyes staring back up at her.

_Slow and steady wins the race. You'll have the rest of your life to roll around naked with him if you can just get things right now._

"Really?" Logan pulled Veronica sideways onto his lap and rested one hand on her breast. Her bemusement filled the air. "What? I can do two things at once."

She could feel her habitual resistance starting to flare up, but forged ahead anyway. "Should we start from before or after I threw up in front of Lianne?"

Logan's expression fell, and she sighed knowing that he was mentally queuing up the dance music for the pity party he was about to throw her. "Ronnie..."

_I wonder if I can request the song 'Sway'?_

Veronica couldn't decide which conversation was least appealing to her – talking about her own mother, or talking about her desire to become a mother one day.

_Looks like I've got a newsstand worth of issues when it comes to parenting. Maybe Logan is right? Maybe we have no business being parents. We certainly didn't have the best examples to follow._

Her mind flashed quickly to her dad and she could feel herself relax again. At least there was one person in their lives who didn't give parenting a bad name. Maybe she wasn't doomed to follow in the footsteps of her deadbeat mother?

Logan threw his head back in frustration. "It's okay if you don't feel ready to talk about what happened with your mom right now, but we _are_ going to talk about it at some point, right?"

"Why is this so important to you?" Veronica asked.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I've been in therapy for the last few years."

Epiphany hit and she smiled at him knowingly. "I was wondering what beget all of this new-found well-adjustment. I should have figured."

"Well, one thing I took away from it is that you and me, we never had the best communication or trust between us."

Veronica frowned and turned away from him. Talking about this was bad enough without him reading the vulnerability in her eyes.

_Hey dummy! You're doing exactly what he's talking about. Turn around._

She swallowed down the sick feeling building in her stomach and angled her face toward him. "You're probably not entirely wrong."

Logan rumpled his hair anxiously and pulled her closer. "I was thinking...maybe we could...I don't know..."

"Looks like you're the one having communication issues now."

"I think we should see a therapist together."

_Of course you do. _

Veronica dropped her head back and groaned. "I can barely tell you how I'm feeling and you expect me to discuss my life with a stranger? I'm just not built that way, okay? I just – this is your thing, not mine."

"It needs to be our thing," he said with resolve. "It's important to me."

She could tell by his expression that this was a dealbreaker, and she would have to suck it up and do as he asked or he'd be out the door. "One time."

"Ten times."

"Two times."

"At least meet me halfway?" He was so hopeful is was making her heart ache.

_Only for you._

Veronica nodded in agreement. "Okay. We'll go five times."

"You're not just agreeing to it to make me stop talking?" Logan asked.

Veronica scoffed. "Like anything could ever make you stop talking."

"There is one thing you could to to make me stop talking." he nuzzled her neck again.

Veronica felt her body grow hot under his affection and angled her neck to give him better access. "Has this couples therapy requirement been a hit with all of your ladies?"

"Only the short ones," Logan said with a grin. "Anyway, there are other ladies on this planet besides you?" he asked in a semi-serious tone. "I hadn't noticed."

She held his face, then leaned over and kissed his temple. "Now there you go again, bringing the sexy back. Justin Timberlake is going to be pissed you're stealing his act."

He pressed his forehead to hers. "Are you insinuating there was ever a time when the sexy left?"

_No, you're pretty much sexy whenever you're breathing air, but there's no way I'm feeding that crippling ego of yours. Consider it an act of humanity._

"Never." She moaned softly as her neck weathered a battery of feather-lite kisses and she began to giggle.

Logan leaned away and glared at her. "The laughing portion usually comes after the sex portion of the evening, snookums."

Veronica pulled his mouth back to her neck and urged him to continue. "No, I was just thinking how if I'm not using sex to avoid talking, then you're using it to make me spill my guts. Either way, we're both going to get laid a lot...until your therapist fixes me, that is."

"Always with the quips." He exhaled a puff of air and looked into her eyes with a new purpose.

"Don't worry, puppy, I'm getting my head shrunk soon. They can cure sarcasm, right?" She arched a brow in question.

Just as Logan was about to respond, his land line rang and he laughed out loud. "Of course the phone rings. It's like it knew you were in trouble."

_Literally saved by the bell. And here I only thought that happened in movies._

She smiled and put her hands on his chest. "I didn't plan that, I swear."

He looked at her doubtfully and stretched his long arm across the bed to grab the receiver. "Casa Erotico. I'm sorry, we're fully booked tonight."

"Echolls?" a male voice called out from over the line, loud enough for Veronica to listen in.

"Speaking..." Logan said with an antiquated flourish.

"It's Leo. Can you put Veronica on, please?"

Hearing the exchange, Veronica grabbed the phone from his hand and pressed it to her ear. "Leo? Did something happen with my mom?"

"Other than her asking about your health, no. Your dad is in with her now, but I've gotta tell you, Veronica, I just don't see her as being too involved in this whole thing."

_True. She's never been too involved with anything other than the bottle._

Veronica scowled as she processed his assessment. "What about Wiedman and Celeste?"

"Your dad already talked to them. They lawyer-ed up before we even requested an interview, so he wasn't able to get much from either of them."

"Can't say I'm too surprised," Veronica said, knowing full well there was no way Wiedman would be brought down by something as insignificant as this.

"Yeah, well, the Kanes aren't pressing charges against Lianne for trespassing, and Katya won't let us file charges for kidnapping, so..."

Veronica's jaw tensed and she shook her head in anger. "So, basically, what you're telling me is that everybody is just going to pretend this whole thing never happened?"

Leo sighed. "You and I both know it's going to be hard for Petrenko's daughter to play the star witness for the prosecution if she disappears off the grid. This case was dead way before we even showed up there this morning."

_I've know I've said it before, but if you like breaking the law it sure as hell pays to be rich in Neptune._

Moving past her disappointment, she focused all of her thoughts on the one thing she still had a shot of fixing. "What's happening with Mac and this 'date' tonight. Did you get further confirmation that Dick was being held in the building? Do you have a plan yet?"

"Oh, you're letting somebody else take the lead for once?" Leo asked with amusement.

Her retort was an unimpressed snort.

"Always the lady," Logan commented in the background, and Veronica retaliated by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Vee, I did something at The Red Room when we raided the place earlier, but your dad doesn't know about it. If I tell you, can you keep it a secret?" Leo asked.

"I think I have a little experience keeping secrets from my dad, Leo. In fact, you were once one of those secrets, if I remember correctly." Veronica smiled at the reverie. Even though she didn't find a love match with Leo, he was probably the nicest, most normal guy she ever truly liked. If Logan hadn't swept through her head when he did, like a category 5 hurricane, she might even still be with Leo.

Logan glared morosely at Veronica, and she rolled her eyes at him.

_He can't still be threatened by Leo? Leo's the guy I dumped to be with him!_

"Okay. I dropped a few bugs around the joint when we were there before. Obviously we can't use anything we record as evidence in a trial, but the intel gathered should give us a head start on locating Casablancas," he said.

Veronica pretended to be shocked. "Leo D'Amato. You sneaky little lawbreaker, you!" she said with a great deal of pride in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah..."

"What time do you want to meet up at the station?"

"Does an hour work for you?" he asked.

_Two works better, but I think I can squeeze everything I need to do in one. Hee. That totally sounded like a line out of a James Bond film. Mac would be so proud._

Veronica glanced at her boyfriend. "I think an hour would work."

Logan grabbed the phone out of his girlfriend's hand and put it to his ear. "Veronica would love to continue this conversation with you man, but she's smack dab in the middle of something."

"What?" Leo asked, slightly put-off by the rude interruption.

"Me." Logan gleefully disconnected the call, then turned a disapproving eye toward Veronica. "And you call me a flirt?"

The phone rang again and Veronica lunged past Logan to answer it. "Casa Erotico, home of Neptune's own psychotic jackass."

Logan glowered at her.

"Casa Erotico? I don't need to hear that shit, Vee. Seriously, keep all that kinky crap to yourself. I just ate," Weevil carped.

"Hey Weevil," she said brightly. "What earth-shattering news do you have to report to me today?"

"Actually..."

_What made me believe that today would be any different than yesterday?_

Veronica's stomach sank. "That'll teach me for thinking optimistically."

"The office was ransacked. Nothing was taken though, I don't think. Nothing big at least, mainly because we ain't got nothing," he said.

She pinched the skin between her eyes. "Hooray for poverty...you have any leads?"

Logan looked at her quizzically and she mouthed 'my office was robbed'.

"Nah. I'm working on it though."

"I have to meet Leo in an hour, but I can swing by afterward?"

Weevil scoffed. "Come on, you think I can't deal with a break-in on my own? That used to be my bread and butter, baby."

Veronica smiled into the receiver. "Yeah, I guess you have a point. Just let me know what you find."

"Will do. Tell Echolls if he's a bad boy that Casa Erotico is gonna be renamed Casa Castrado." Without waiting for a response, Weevil ended the call.

_I hate to break it to you, Weavs, but I kind of like him bad._

Logan walked over to the phone base and ripped the cord out of the wall. "55 minutes and counting..."

* * *

A vintage Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman rolled up to the front door of The Red Room Club. The driver dashed out and circled around the back of the vehicle to open the back passenger-side door.

Mac, clad in a peacock-hued silk wrap dress that brought out her eyes and a pair of silver ballet flats, hesitated for a moment, before stepping out of the car.

"Mr. Petrenko is expecting you inside," the driver said before shutting the door behind her.

She tried to adjust the material in the front of her dress to show less cleavage, but it kept slipping back to expose her further.

_Great. I'll bet this is exactly how Cinderella felt at the ball._

Mac bit back her feelings of nausea and followed the driver into the building.

* * *

_Earlier that morning at the Kane estate._

_"Well...I know you're probably not going to seem too eager about this, but I could really use your help," he said._

_Veronica laughed genuinely. "Why on Earth would I do that?"_

_"You promised Duncan you'd help him keep his daughter, didn't you?" Wiedman asked, with a smug smile._

_"You really have no qualms about hitting below the belt, do you, Clarence?" she asked._

_He bowed his head to her in deference. "Sometimes you've got to grab for the low hanging fruit to keep from starving, Veronica."_

_Mac held her breath, knowing that Veronica's grip on her temper was tenuous at best. She'd seen it in action many times. With her with cheeks flushed, hip haughtily cocked to the side and nostrils flared like a bull in Pamplona, her best friend's fury was a majestic beast._

_Veronica's entire body clenched. "Be careful that you don't choke on it."_

_Mac decided right then to step in before things got out of hand. She flopped into a chair and blew a stream of air up into her bangs._

"_I'm sorry, are we boring you here?" Wiedman asked._

"_You're not boring, just tedious. I think Doctor Evil managed to unveil his dastardly plan faster than this," she said, playing with the ends of her hoodie strings."Veronica is going to be here when she gets her government-issued retirement watch at this pace."_

_Wiedman smirked, apparently entertained by her insubordination. "Actually, Ms. Mackenzie - -"_

"_Call me Mac."_

_He looked her over, scrutinizing her some unknown reason. The weight of his gaze was making her squirm. "Actually, Mac, the favor I need is from you."_

_Her eyebrows kissed her hairline. She was not expecting that._

_Veronica's eyes darted to her friend and she jutted her jaw out, a non-verbal encouragement for Mac to push on._

_Mac waved her hand, signaling for Wiedman to continue._

"_Rumor has it, Mr. Petrenko has taken quite a liking to you," he said._

_She shrugged her shoulders. "Actually, I think he may be more attracted to my programming skills than my glamour, hard as that is to believe."_

"_Be that as it may, I'd like you to set up a date with him."_

_Mac wrinkled her nose. "And why would I do that?"_

_Wiedman smoothed down his suit and perched himself on the edge of Jake Kane's desk. "How else can you gain access to his computer?"_

"_You want me to steal his computer?" she asked with disbelief._

_He shook his head slowly and pulled something out of his j__acket pocket. "No, Mac. I don't want you to take anything, but I would like you to leave a little something behind." He opened his hand, revealing a tiny silver pen drive._

* * *

Mac entered the crimson room of the Ukrainian club, feeling much like Alice going through the looking glass. She had been there before of course, but it was different then. For one, she had Dick with her, and despite her protestations, he had not only kept her safe but actually made her feel safe. Now she was flying solo and it took everything in her to walk through the door.

"Cindy." Alexei appeared on the other side of the room with arms akimbo.

She smiled and let him cross the room to greet her.

"You look beautiful," he said, as his eyes drifted down to her chest.

_Note to self: Next time you have dinner with a movie villain, wear something with a higher neckline._

* * *

Mac and Petrenko were sitting in a velvet-covered booth finishing up their dinner as the waitress brought over a tray laden with infused vodka digestifs.

Alexei leaned in toward Mac, who was sitting next to him. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

She smiled coquettishly. "Everything was perfect. I can't believe you knew I was a vegan."

_Seriously? Creepy much?_

"Research, perseverance, attention to detail...these are the thing that separate the average man – or woman – from the few who are successful, wouldn't you agree?"

Mac considered the statement. "Sure. I mean, you won't get anywhere without those things, but having them doesn't guarantee success."

Alexei tilted his head and gestured to her. "What am I missing?"

_Blackmail? Threats? Bribery?_

"Easy. Luck and access. You can be the most prepared person in the world, but if you can't get an audience with the right person, you may as well flush your dreams down the drain, because they're going nowhere," she said.

"And what are your dreams, Ms. MacKenzie?" he asked, his molten gaze caressing her form as he leaned back in his chair.

She looked down at the full shot of vodka in front of her. "You'd probably find them boring."

"Try me," he said, pushing the shot glass closer to her.

"I guess I always dreamed I'd have access to unlimited funds, so I could form a tech lab with programmers I'd get to hand pick. I'd love to develop a security system that is completely immune to hackers, a system that even I wouldn't be able to get into. It would be unbreakable," she said, her eyes glazed over in thought.

Alexei grinned at her. "That does sound pretty amazing. What if I told you that you could do that here - for me?"

_Are you freaking kidding me?_

Mac's lips parted in surprised and she lifted the arrow wood berry vodka to her mouth. "Huh." She drank the shot quickly and placed the empty glass on the table. "I'd have to say that it's a very interesting offer."

"I'm very glad to hear that," he said, and poured her another shot. "Now that we've gotten that piece of nasty business out of the way, why don't we spend the rest of the evening just enjoying each other's company?"

_I wonder how he defines 'enjoy'?_

Mac swallowed the lump rising in her esophagus and cleared her throat. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Alexei inched closer to Mac and placed his hand on her knee. "You're a smart girl. I'm pretty sure you can figure it out."

_Well, okay then._

Before she could respond, Alexei's lips were on hers, caressing them in warm, supple, insistent ways she'd never experienced. One hand buried in her hair as the other one began to slide higher up on her thigh.

_Mission abort!_

Mac pulled back, completely flustered, and immediately rose from her seat. "I, um, need the..."

"The ladies room is in the back of the club," Alexei said, smug in the knowledge that he could leave her breathless.

* * *

Mac almost tripped over her feet on her way to the bathroom, but forced herself to slow down.

_Get it together. This is your chance._

She lifted her iPhone from her handbag and quickly pulled up a snapshot of the map Gory drew for her earlier.

_Get in, get to the computer, and then get out._

Mac approached the secret entrance to the basement and looked down at the jagged-looking stone staircase, casually wondering if Hannibal Lechter was down there waiting for her.

She placed a jittery hand to her chest. Her rapid heartbeat felt as thought it would break through her rib cage any second.

_Chilllll._

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before dropping her foot onto the first step.

Mac groped her way down the long corridor, looking for signs of life. According to Gory's map, Alexei's office should be the third door on the left, but when she got there, she only found a broom closet.

_That motherfucker._

She cursed his name over and over again in her mind, until an idea came to her. After locking the screen, she turned the phone upside down and smiled.

_Okay. Maybe he's not a total motherfucker._

As she gripped the doorknob on the third door on her right, she was distracted by the sound a person wracked with coughs.

"Dr. G! Dude! I need more pain meds, man!"

She sprinted toward the sound of the familiar voice and pushed open the last door at the end of the corridor. Her breath caught in her throat at the site in front of her.

"Oh my God!" Mac's jaw dropped and she felt her throat run dry. She wasn't sure if she was more horrified to have found Dick lying there on a hospital bed in a makeshift clinic or at the state of his battered body. "Oh God, look at you." She ran quickly to his bedside to examine his injuries.

_How can something be so amazing and also terrible to see at the same time?_

"Ghostworld? What the hell are you doing here?" Dick scrunched his features to look at her.

_Ghostworld? What happened to Mac? Machiavellian? I'd even take MacGuyver over that._

"We've been looking everywhere for you, Dick, I've been worried sick." He looked as surprised by her admission, as she was that she'd said it out loud. "God, you look so pale. You must have lost a lot of blood." She lightly ran her fingers over the bandage on his head and winced. "Shit."

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked in a panic. "This place is crawling with those fucking meth-head micks."

She tilted her head to the side. "Could you be more specific?"

"The Fitzpatricks!" he said, as if she should have known who he was referring to.

She shook her head. "No, Dick. Most of them are in jail, remember? Veronica's dad busted up their gang and put them away a few years ago."

Dick frowned, and she could tell his faculties weren't totally running at top speed. "Well, I still want to know what you're doing here? Is Logan out of town on one of those book tours again? Did he send you to pick me up?"

Mac's brow wrinkled in bewilderment and she stared blankly at him.

_What the hell? How hard did he hit his head?_

He pouted his lips. "He must of promised you something major to come and get me, huh? I know I'm not your favorite person..."

"What?" Every time he spoke, Mac fell deeper into her well of confusion.

"I'm trying to say thanks, Mac, you know for coming, even though you hate me." Dick smiled at her warmly, then timidly placed his hand on hers for a moment, before quickly retracting it.

_Huh?_

She cautiously edged closer to his bed. "I don't – I don't hate you, Dick."

"It's okay, Mac. I know you do, but I haven't always exactly been on my best behavior around you, so I get it. I am really sorry though, and I'm not just saying it because I want you to get me the fuck out of here. The apology is real." He looked at her expectantly.

Mac reached for her phone and tried to make a call, but she didn't have a signal. "Shit."

"Try that one," Dick said, gesturing to the phone Griffiths left on the counter. "It got reception down here before, when the doctor was on it."

She took Griffith's phone and looked at him pensively. "I don't hate you. Not anymore. Maybe I never did, okay?"

Dick's eyes widened with shock. "You're so cool, Mac. Man, I was such a douchebag to you in high school. You know, to you and...to Cassidy. It's one of those things I really wish I could un-do, you know what I mean?"

_Am I the only one having deja vu here? Yes? Just asking._

"I know," Mac whispered and nodded her head solemnly.

She typed out a text on the doctor's phone and sent it to Veronica, Logan and Leo. "There. The cavalry has been called – or texted, to be more specific."

Dick narrowed his eyes, as if trying to remember something.

Mac brushed Dick's hair aside with her fingers again and stifled the urge to kiss his injury. "What's going on up there? You drawing a blank?"

"I know you think I'm an idiot, but there's more goin' on behind the curtain than you think," he said with a dazzling grin.

She buried her face in her hand. "No, that's not what I meant, Dick. I just...are you having trouble remembering things?"

"Kinda. I mean, I know what year it is and who's president and shit, but the past 24 hours are kind of a blur. I don't even know how I ended up here or what happened before." He looked up at her with lost eyes.

_He doesn't remember it. He doesn't remember us._

Mac's insides hollowed at his words. "Oh."

He shrugged off the heaviness of their conversation. "Well, you know what they say – if you can't remember something, you've probably done something worth forgetting, right?"

_Wrong!_

She flinched. "Uh...yeah. I guess. That, or you hit your head in a car accident."

Dick chuckled and pointed at her. "You always did make me laugh, Mackie."

"Good to know I've finally achieved one of my life's big goals."

He continued laughing, then suddenly grimaced and bent over in pain, before awkwardly trying to readjust his position. "Hey, if you don't spring me from this joint soon you're gonna have to watch me get a sponge bath from a dude. Trust me, it's the worst kind of porn there is."

She felt his muscular torso under her fingers as she helped him shift his body. "Speak for yourself."

* * *

Dick noticed a figure darken the doorway and squinted to identify him. "Dr. G?"

"What do we have here?"

Mac jumped with a start at the sound of her dinner host's voice. "Alexei."

_This dude looks like a more badass version of that bad guy from Die Hard. Have I met him before?_

"I see you've managed to locate your friend. I suspected you might," he said casually, as if she hasn't just stumbled onto a warfare-style surgical unit in his basement lair.

_An accent, huh? Make that a more badass RUSSIAN Hans Gruber. I wonder if he has a daughter? Russian chicks are always gagging for it._

Mac crossed her arms tightly and defiantly lifted her chin. "He needs a proper hospital."

The oligarch shrugged. "Probably."

"Do you know this guy?" Dick felt a pang of jealousy, unaware of its origin, and pushed it away as he did with most things he was afraid to examine.

He observed Mac and Russian Hans Gruber's standoff with a mixture of curiosity and terror. It was hard enough to believe Mac came there looking for him, but to have her fighting for his well-being like a mama tiger was too surreal. "I knew this wasn't a real hospital when I didn't see any hot nurses. What is this place?"

Locked in a stare, both Mac and Petrenko ignored his query. "You are going to let him go."

_Damn. She's kind of sexy when she's bossy. Who knew?_

"You're a smart girl. You know why I can't do that," Alexei said, mirroring her crossed-armed stance.

"Well you can't leave him here to die," she said.

Dick reach out to touch Mac's sleeve but his fingertips fell an inch short. "I'm dying?

Dr. G never said anything about that."

Mac shushed Dick and brought both of her hands to her forehead in frustration. "What will it take for you to let him go?"

"What are you offering?" Alexei asked with a malevolent smile.

"What are you doing, Mac?" Dick's face was marked with concern. They may not be friends, but there was no way he would let her take a bullet for him – metaphorical or otherwise. "Just get out of here, I'll be fine."

She shook her head. "You can name your terms. Within reason, obviously."

_What exactly is she offering this dude and why is she risking all of this for me? She doesn't even like me!_

"Come on, Mac, don't do this," Dick begged.

Petrenko took a step forward, prompting Mac to take a step back. She slammed directly into the cabinet with a thud. "Shit!"

Dick lunged to help her regain her balance and felt something tear in his chest. "Argh!"

She pulled herself back up to standing and rushed to his side. Her calm exterior fractured for a millisecond as she hovered her hands over his chest, unsure of what to do or touch.

"Are you okay?" Dick asked her through his labored breathing.

Mac smiled sadly at him. "I'm supposed to be asking you that, Dick."

He tried to sit up, but didn't have the strength. "I'm okay."

_Not you're not, dude!_

_Of all the times to have my ass handed to me it had to be now? I just want to get her out of here and away from the sinister-looking dude with the goatee._

"Dick, no. Stop moving. You're only going to do more harm than good." With some difficulty, Mac was able to guide him back into a comfortable sitting position. "Am I hurting you?"

Dick shook his head. "I guess I keep forgetting I'm a gimp." he said, hoping some levity might ease her nerves. She may have seemed cool and collected to the outside eye, but he had known her long enough to know better.

"You shouldn't use the word 'gimp'," Mac said, trying distract Dick from his pain with humor. "And before you ask, retard is also off-limits."

She kept glancing at his wounds and chewing on her bottom lip anxiously.

He forced a smile through gritted teeth. "Well, is it okay if I call this guy a retard?" he asked, tilting his head in Petrenko's direction.

Mac looked at a perturbed Alexei and thought about it for a moment. "Just this once, okay?"

_Were her eyes always this beautiful? Did I really just use the word beautiful? I feel like such a pussy. Must be the meds or else Logan's limp-balled approach to wooing chicks has finally rubbed its stench off on me._

Alexei huffed and drew his weapon. "So sorry to interrupt, but I _am_ aiming a gun at you."

Dick's expression was stern. "Oh no, I hope I don't get shot."

Petrenko returned his derision then switched his attention to Mac. "You're willing to risk everything for _this guy_? I'm disappointed, Cindy. I thought you had better taste."

_Better taste in what?_

"Yeah, well I thought you had better morals, so I guess everything sort of evens out," she said.

"Come on, darling. We were having such a nice evening. Forget about this...person, and we'll go upstairs and have a drink. We can talk about it there," Alexei said. "...or not talk?"

_Was Mac on a date with this dude? Talk about bad taste. Dude is badass and all but he's old enough to be her dad._

Dick suddenly felt an irrational jealousy build inside his chest.

"Forget about him? No. I don't think so, Alexei. Look at him! He needs medical help. Please."

He did not like where this conversation was headed. There was no way he was going to let her go upstairs alone with him. No way. "Fuck this guy, Mac! Seriously, walk out of here."

Petrenko calmly crossed the floor to Dick, put the gun to the blond man's temple and cocked the hammer.

_Oh._

Mac was frantic and rushed around the hospital bed to the other side. "No. Alexei, please...put the gun down. No. I'll do anything. You don't need to do this. I'll do anything, okay? Just please..."

As she reached his side, Petrenko's eyes shifted to her. "I'm listening..."

"What if...what if I come and work for your company, just like you wanted? I could develop that security system for you that we talked about. Just have one of your minions drive Dick to the hospital and I'm yours, okay?" One errant tear rolled down her face, but she never moved to wipe it. She stood there, stoically waiting for Petrenko's verdict as he considered her offer.

_What the hell is she doing? This is suicide! She's going to give herself to this guy as a bribe?_

A wave of panic nearly knocked the wind of of Dick and his chest started to heave. "No! Mac, what the fuck? I don't know who this Die Hard motherfucker is, but there's no way in hell I'm letting you stay here with him. We either both leave together or we both stay. End of story."

"What's your answer?" Mac asked Petrenko.

Alexei withdrew the gun from Dick's head and gave Mac a smug wink. "You stay here and I will let him go, but you had better behave. Always remember, Cindy, I can get to him any time I feel like it. Any time I want to teach you a lesson, or you displease me in any way, this man is a walking target. Do not even think of crossing me."

He reached down and gently brushed Mac's tear away with his thumb. "Are we clear?"

"Yeah, crystal."

_Wait. What just happened? She's not actually going with this guy?_

Dick was dumbfounded as he watched Mac conclude her negotiations. "I'm going to need proof that he was taken to a hospital and treated," she said.

"Of course," Alexei conceded.

Her face was a mask of determination. "And can I...can I just have a minute alone with him before he leaves? Please."

Petrenko sidled over to Mac and gently cupped her face in his hands. "I'm not a monster, I do want you to be happy." He leaned down and kissed her forehead with affection. "I'll give you three minutes to say your goodbyes."

* * *

**A/N – REVIEW! (please?) Dying to know what you thought of the MaDi stuff.**

**BTW, for those who have asked, I picture Alexei as looking like a slightly older Jon Hamm when he has a beard - just a little more Euro. He doesn't actually look like Hans Gruber - it's more the beard, the suit, and the badass suave attitude.**

**PS – I am really trying to respond to all of the comments, but I'm so behind because of the writing. I'll eventually get there, so please don't think I've forgotten. I'm sure you'd rather have the next chapter than my silly old PM.**

**PPS – Hey silverlining2k6, in case you were unaware, you are da bomb.**


	36. Chapter 36

**HOLY SHIT! ****I think I'm going to pass out. We're getting a movie. FINALLY.**

**I donated on Kickstarter – did you? That's all I'm going to say for now, because I'm speechless.**

**Oh wait, there is one more thing I want to say -_ thank you _for leaving over 600 freaking comments on this story! I am seriously bowled over. This is a banner day, as far as I'm concerned. Even watching an Aaron Echolls double-feature couldn't ruin it for me. Even watching a Piz-centric episode of VM couldn't rain on my parade (maybe?).**

**PS – Special thanks to Silverlining2k6 for metaphorically holding my hand all day until we passed 2 mil. It was so much more exciting to squee about this with another LoVer than to suffer through the anxiety alone :)**

*** Apologies if this chapter isn't coherent – I cannot concentrate today! * At least it's a looong one ***

* * *

**CHAPTER 36**

In the parking lot across the street from the Red Room Club, Keith and Leo hunkered down in the surveillance van listening to the muffled stylings of Mac's hidden mic as it broadcast the contents of her dinner 'date' with Alexei Petrenko.

Between the scent of stale coffee and the personal musk of Neptune's finest, the air inside the vehicle was thick and warm, like a trip to Havana in the summer time, minus the ocean breeze.

_This would be exactly like Havana were it not for the absence of a good Cohiba and a thimble of rum. Okay, forget it, this is nothing like Havana, but it IS eerily similar to the men's room at that Cuban joint just off the PCH, where I got food poisoning last fall._

There was once a time when he welcomed the prospect of an evening sitting in the parking lot of a sleazy dive bar. It was a lot easier to be alone when the alternative was an empty apartment in a shitty part of town. Once Veronica decamped Neptune for Georgetown University in D.C., home became just another place to sleep. He spent years in the emotional wilderness, but all of that changed again for him the day Alicia walked back into his life, giving him a purpose and the will to get back on his feet.

After his stunning political defeat and subsequent arrest for evidence tampering, Keith had given up on having a happy ending. He'd seen enough to know that not many people got a second chance at life, and was smart enough to realize he probably wasn't one of them. He was a drowning man, and was content to let the waves wash over his head and pull him under. Just when he had given up on miracles though, one finally happened to him. There she was, waiting on line at the Coffee Bean Tea & Leaf, re-extending her friendship to him, like a life preserver offering to pull him to shore.

If he could get a woman like Alicia to love him again, he could accomplish anything. That's when he decided to get up off the mat and fight – for her, for his job, for his reputation, and for everything that had been taken from him.

A lack of evidence in the Kane affair forced the DA to drop both the 'evidence tampering' and 'obstruction of justice' charges against Keith. He was a free man, and he swore to himself he would earn his pardon by making it his mission to protect his town the way he had sworn to so many years ago - even without his beloved badge. He resolved right then, to expose new sheriff Vinnie Van Lowe's corruption and bring down the entire Fitzpatrick clan.

For the most part, Keith had always liked Vinnie. Sure, he was a bit of a show pony and was as crooked as a barrel of fishhooks (and just as fishy), but at least he wasn't malicious like the old sheriff, his unfortunately departed deputy. Vinnie, unlike Lamb, actually did work hard at the job and seemed to take most of his responsibilities seriously, but he had a monolith of a blind spot that could not be overlooked.

Vinnie was on the take, and though Keith wasn't a fan of unscrupulous business practices, as a PI he had no problem looking the other way as long as it wasn't too egregious. Half the town was double dealing, but his old rival had taken it too far. There's a big difference between sneaking a few dollars out of the till when nobody was looking, and robbing a bank. Vinnie's backroom deal with the FitzPatricks was the equivalent of holding up the federal reserve.

The idea that Van Lowe, whose sole charge it was to protect the people of Neptune, could so blatantly sell them out for his own personal gain, made the ex-sheriff's blood run hot.

If Vinnie were just a civilian, it would have been just another day in Neptune, but the minute he pinned on that shiny, metallic star, he was a walking target as far as Keith was concerned. Even if the town didn't want him to look out for it, Keith decided he would do it anyway. He needed to square his debt and what better way to do it than the oust the crooked man his scandal helped put in office?

A year after he made that feeble promise to himself, he managed to do what no law enforcement official had ever done – he nailed the Fitzpatricks to the wall. All of them, in a drug bust he helped orchestrate with the local field office of the FBI. Vinnie was just collateral damage.

_I warned him it was coming and he didn't listen, poor schmuck._

Having decided that the Starbucks wasn't making a dent in his exhaustion, Keith stopped nursing the paper cup and wedged it in a drink holder.

"We don't do this often enough, you know?" Keith said, gesturing between himself and Leo, prompting a raised eyebrow from his deputy. "Getting out of the office...grabbing a cup of coffee together...listening to the radio..."

"Yeah boss, this is a real treat."

Keith tipped his head to the side and pointed a finger. "See, you say that now, but if I put you on the traffic beat, this would all suddenly seem like Shangri-La," he said, waving his hand in the air like a conjuring wizard.

Leo struggled to keep the smile from his face. "If I only had some advanced warning, I would have packed my swimsuit, really enjoyed the facilities to their fullest."

The sound of Mac's husky voice interrupted their banter.

(Mac's audio) "Easy. Luck and access. You can be the most prepared person in the world, but if you can't get an audience with the right person, you may as well flush your dreams down the drain, because they're going nowhere."

_She's not wrong. I always liked that Cindy Mackenzie._

(Petrenko's audio) "And what are your dreams, Ms. MacKenzie?"

Keith's head lolled toward Leo's and he rolled his eyes. "This guy's laying it on a bit thick, no?"

Leo laughed and turned the volume up. "Maybe that's how they do it in the Ukraine?"

(Mac's audio) "You'd probably find them boring."

Keith rubbed the top of his head and stretched his legs out. "And the women buy these lines? In my day, all we had to do to get a girl to like us, was put on a pair of tight dungarees, invite her to an Aerosmith concert and spring for a round or two of domestic beer."

(Petrenko's audio) "Try me."

"So that's why I haven't found the right woman, my attempts at wooing are too highbrow and my 'dungarees' are too loose. Wish you had given me these tips while I was dating Veronica," Leo said, not entirely joking.

_My little girl certainly does leave a trail of heartache in her wake. If I wasn't friendly with several of her failed suitors, I'd probably be proud. How could Jake Kane have ever thought he was Veronica's father? She clearly has the Mars charm and magnetism in spades. Nothing about the Kanes is magnetic except for the door to his personal safe._

(Mac's audio) "I guess I always dreamed I'd have access to unlimited funds, so I could form a tech lab with programmers I'd get to hand pick. I'd love to develop a security system that is completely immune to hackers, a system that even I wouldn't be able to get into. It would be unbreakable."

(Petrenko's audio) "That does sound pretty amazing. What if I told you that you could do that here - for me?"

Keith clapped Leo on the shoulder in a fatherly way. "You realize none of this advice applies to Veronica. She's not like other girls. In fact, sometimes I suspect she's entirely her own gender."

"Yeah. I kind of picked up on that years ago." Leo sighed heavily and pulled his knees up. "Anyway, if Logan Echolls is her type, which, I mean...obviously he is, I'm pretty much as far from Veronica's type as you can get."

(Mac's audio) "Huh. I'd have to say that it's a very interesting offer."

"Oh, I don't know about that, she's dated lots of different kinds of boys. I don't think she has a specific type really...you know...other than Logan," Keith said.

Leo telegraphed his awareness of being humored. "Her taste is guys like Logan? That's quite a narrow criteria. In fact, I'm fairly certain the pool of candidates is as shallow as the kiddie pool at the Y."

"Maybe not guys _like_ Logan. Probably just Logan." Keith shrugged to signify his inability to comprehend his daughter's taste in men.

"Yeah, I got that a long time ago. You forget, I'm the guy she dumped to go out with him the first time they dated," Leo said, stretching his legs out again. "I guess I should be flattered she threw me over for her lifelong addiction instead of somebody like that Duncan Kane character. Now, _that _would have stung."

_You're not the only one who feels that way, kid. _

Keith looked at the deputy he thought of as a son and nodded in agreement.

_If Veronica tries to run out on Logan again, I'm just going to have to handcuff them together. It's safer for everybody that way. Better they torture each other than the rest of the free world._

"I don't think there was ever the risk of that happening, son. As for Logan..." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I've learned the hard way that it's pointless to get in-between those two. They're like pinballs that never fall down the chute. You try to get in the middle of it and you'll only get knocked around. I say this from experience." He lifted his coffee cup to his lips, took a long sip and shivered in disgust. "Did you buy this stuff at a rest stop?"

"As a matter of fact..."

(Petrenko's audio) "I'm very glad to hear that. Now that we've gotten that piece of nasty business out of the way, why don't we spend the rest of the evening just enjoying each other's company?"

Leo tapped Keith on the arm and motioned to the speaker.

(Mac 's audio) "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Keith frowned and put his coffee down.

_He'd better not do what it sounds like he's about to do..._

(Petrenko's audio) "You're a smart girl. I'm pretty sure you can figure it out."

_Crap. _

The men shared a concerned look and Keith could feel his hands pull into tight fists. "I'm pretty sure we could kill him and make it look like an accident."

Leo looked astonished.

"Did I say that out loud?" Keith asked sheepishly.

"Should I go in?" Leo asked, checking his gun holster as he started to head toward the back door of the van.

(Audio) Kissing sounds.

Keith imagined the countless times Veronica had undoubtedly been in Mac's current situation and felt his stomach turn sour.

"Okay, if this doesn't end in the next 60 seconds, you're going in."

(Mac's audio) "I, um, need the..."

(Petrenko's audio) "The ladies room is in the back of the club."

_Good girl._

Keith and Leo felt a collective relief.

After about a minute of Mac's dress rustling up against the mic she had pinned to her bra, the room got quiet and all the men could hear was the soft rhythm of her harried breathing.

"Sheriff Mars?" she whispered into the mic nervously. "I'm going to sneak into the basement now to check for Dick. If you don't hear from me in about seven minutes, you should probably come in after me."

Leo's hand rested anxiously on the back hatch handle, occasionally twitching to move.

Without warning, the sound on Mac's mic cut out.

"If she's in the basement, there may not be reception," Keith said, hoping that was all it was.

Leo's leg bounced gently against the floor, and he looked with anticipation to his boss for the signal to go.

_He's just like I was when I was younger – all balls and nothing to lose. Sometimes by the time you make it to the top, you lose all of the things that got you there in the first place._

Keith smiled internally and jerked his head toward the door. "But don't go in yet, okay? Just hang around the perimeter and I'll signal when and if you should enter."

A toothy smile spread across the younger man's handsome face. "You got it, boss."

* * *

Duncan Kane was sitting on the bed with his daughter, reading a bedtime story.

"Sizzle sizzle, blurp blurp, knock knock knock."

Lilly descended into a giggle fit at her father's reading.

"A slurp, and a whisper, and a fish kiss too..." Duncan and Lilly lean to kiss each other on the mouth with puckered 'fish' lips. "Mr. Brown can do it, how about you?"

Lilly clapped her hands and then lunged for another book. "Okay, now this one, daddy."

He shook his head, then stood up and put the book on the night table. "We said three. You've had three. You're done, miss."

She pulled out her bottom lip and looked up at her father with manufactured dampness brimming in her wide, blue eyes.

_Funny. I always thought reincarnation was a bunch of bunk until recently. Not so much anymore._

Duncan leaned over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "You forget I've seen this routine before. Why don't you save the performance for your Uncle Logan. He's always was a soft touch when it came to beautiful blondes."

"Fine..." she said, still sulking. "I'm sure_ he'd_ read me a 4th book. Uncle Logan loves me."

_Ah, the manipulation begins..._

"Of course he does." He pulled the covers up to her chest and kissed her once more. "You know I love you more though, right?"

"Do you love me more than anything else in the whole wide world?" she asked.

He tipped his head side to side as if in deliberation. "I suppose..."

"Daddy!" she shrieked, unimpressed.

Duncan laughed and wiped her hair from her face. "You know I do. There's nobody else who even comes close to my princess."

Lilly sat up suddenly with a creased brow shadowing her face. "Then...then why are you leaving me?" she asked, her eyes downcast toward the baby doll cradled in her arms.

_Fuck._

"Where – who told you that, Lilly?" he asked, stammering over his words.

"I heard you, when you were talking to grandma earlier. You thought I was in the bathroom."

_Shit. This is not how I wanted to do this. I guess i shouldn't be shocked she was eavesdropping. That was Lilly's favorite past time...well, second favorite._

Duncan sighed inwardly and dropped back down onto the mattress next to Lilly. "Remember how we've always had to move from place to place, sometimes using our secret names and superhero identities?"

She nodded, looking more interested once he brought superheroes into the mix.

"Well...all of that, you know, the running, was because I was trying to protect you," he said.

"I know that, daddy. You were saving me from my evil grandparents, like Rapunzel and the thief."

He smiled and stroked the soft velvet of her cheek with the back of his fingers. "That's right. But Lilly, do you like it here, in Neptune?"

She smiled at him, almost as if she were lit from within. He'd always thought everything about his daughter was magical, but especially when she looked at him like that. "I guess that answers my question."

"I love it here. I love having family around, and you said I could go to school in January too, right?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, baby. Of course you can...but in order for us to stay here, I have to go away for a little while."

Duncan could hear Lilly's breath catch and felt her body tense up next to his. "How long?"

_Oh God. I'd do anything to spare her this. Maybe we should just run? No. No. In the long run, this is the best thing for her._

He sucked it up and dropped the news that had kept him up all last night. "Six months."

Lilly's face crumpled. "No. That's like, as super long time, daddy. I don't want you to leave me. I don't want to be alone."

She buried her face in her father's side and sobbed uncontrollably. He was sure that having his heart shredded would hurt him less than this.

"You won't be alone. You'll have your family around you and they love you," Duncan explained, hoping that would soften the blow. He stroked her powder-scented hair and kissed the top of her head several times in a row. "I know it will be hard, and we'll miss each other a lot, but we can see each other once a week. Before you know it, I'll be back."

He swallowed thickly, willing himself not to cry. He knew if he lost it, she could only be more scared.

_Keep it together, man._

"Where would I stay?" she whispered hoarsely from under his armpit.

_Thank God._

"Where would you like to stay?" he asked. "Do you want to stay here with grandma and grandpa?" Even as he said the words, he knew this wasn't what he wanted for her, but what other choice did he have?

Lilly emerged from her fabric cocoon with a tart expression pulling her mouth into a little pink purse. "I haven't even met grandpa yet, and grandma...she's, um, she's nice and all, but...uh..."

Duncan chuckled and decided to save her from the awkward exchange. "It's okay. I know what you mean, I grew up with her. She can be a little...um...well, you know."

They looked at each other and both cracked up laughing.

"If you have to leave, then I want to stay with Uncle Lo and Auntie Vee," she said decisively.

_Oh..._

Duncan hadn't given that any thought. He knew they were moving in together, but he assumed they'd want their privacy. He knew they'd take good care of her, but how could he ask them something like that? It was too big, and she wasn't really their family, as much as they all liked to pretend they were. People don't just take in an old friend's kid – especially one they haven't seen for years. "I'll have to ask them first. They may not have room for you at their place, but if they say yes, then it's okay with me. I'll ask them tomorrow."

Lilly visibly relaxed and wrapped her hands around her father's bicep. "Do you really have to go?"

He nodded. "Just for a little while, but then we get to spend the rest of our lives right here, if we want."

"You promise I can visit you where ever you are?"

He nodded and looked at Lilly with admiration. She had an uncanny ability to roll with the punches and never give up, better than many children twice her age. Along with some of his sister's least desirable qualities, his daughter was also lucky enough to have inherited most of her best ones, and for that he was infinitely thankful.

_The elder Lilly would have loved to have been able to spend six months with friends. By the time she'd left, she would no doubt have conned them into raising her curfew and letting her get her bellybutton pierced. _

"Then it's settled. You're going to go to sleep now, and tomorrow we'll talk to Logan and Veronica."

"Okay daddy." He kissed her once more and left the warmth of his sister's old bed for the cold hallway. The chill in the air only reinforced his initial gut feeling about leaving Lilly there.

_It's better for her to be out of this place. She deserves to be in a house where there's love._

"Daddy!" Lilly screamed.

Duncan left his hand on the door knob and turned his head.

"I love you more than anything in the whole wide world too, daddy," she said, then flipped over and pulled the covers up to her ears.

* * *

The distance between his daughter's room and his mother's wasn't very far, but it didn't take long for Duncan to come to another very important decision, regarding the other woman in his life.

"Mother?" he called out as he rapped his knuckles softly on the dense oak door.

He could hear her stirring inside. "Duncan? Is that you? Come in."

He closed his eyes and let the frigid metal slide through his fingers. As much as he wanted to run, he had to muster the courage to face her. If it were only him, he'd have hid in his bedroom, content to have others make his decisions for him. Decisions, especially big ones, had always left him paralyzed, but ever since he'd first scooped up the fushsia, mewling bundle of energy that carried his genes, things had irrevocably changed.

"I've given it a lot of thought, and I've decided that I'm not going to do it. I can't."

"What?" Celeste pulled down a pair of reading glasses from her face and left them on the night table. "What are you referring to, dear?"

_When did she start wearing glasses?_

"I just...he's my dad, you know? I mean, I'm not a fan of Lianne's, but it is _his _money, I didn't earn it."

His mother's face dropped and her gaze hardened. "You're talking about selling the patents."

He nodded.

"Well, you may not have earned it, but I did. 25 years of betrayal ought to have afforded me something, no? Whatever I've got coming to me, I want you to have, not _her_."

Duncan felt uncomfortable standing in her doorway having this discussion, but he wasn't sure he'd feel any more at ease by her bedside. His mother had never been good at 'feelings'. "The bottom line is, in five years, you, uh...may not be here, but dad will. Lilly needs family around, and I can't alienate the only person we might have left."

"Oh, so because I'm probably going to die, who gives a sod what _she _wants? I get it," she said, looking hurt, but not emotional.

"Mom, that's not what - -"

"I'm doing this for you and for Lilly. I'm protecting you, Duncan!" she shouted, before placing a pale hand over her mouth until she regained her composure. "I know I haven't always been the best mother to you, but everything I've ever done was to protect you...even if it may have backfired sometimes. My intention was always to keep you safe."

_Like when you paid Abel Kuntz to take the fall for me? Like when you forced me to leave the only girl I've ever loved because you thought she was my sister?_

"I know that what you did was always out of love, but your judgment..." Duncan laughed at the irony of his situation. If he had been man enough to have a conversation like this back then, he wouldn't be standing here having it now. He took a breath and crossed the room to his mother's bedside.

Celeste's face softened and she reached for her son's hand. "Your father is a terrible husband, but he's a good man underneath it all, I know that. He was always better at expressing ...things..." she said, waving her hand in the air, "...than I was, but it doesn't mean I loved you any less."

"I know that, mom. I know you loved us."

She nodded thoughtfully, then brought his hand to her cheek. "You're a much better parent than I am. Lilly is so lovely, and happy. Maybe this time I should let you make your own decisions."

_Did I fall and hit my head or something? I swear I must be hearing things._

Duncan's eyes widened as he watched his mom press her lips to the palm of his hand. He had never seen her so open, so accessible. "You're right. We have to think of what's best for Lilly. I can't let my desire to punish your father come above her welfare in the long term. I did that once, and it sent you down a very dark road. That's my cross to bear and I won't do it to you again."

"Forget about it, okay? Everything that happened, it ended up being the way it should have. If you hadn't done what you'd done, and I hadn't reacted the way I had, I wouldn't have Lilly, and I'd trade every happy memory I missed out on just be her dad."

Celeste smiled at him. "I know I never said it much, but I am proud of you, Duncan."

Duncan scooted his mother over and crawled into bed next to her. "Not so sure you'll be too proud of me when I'm in my prison stripes. Probably won't be able to regale your friends at the club with tales of your convict son."

"Oh, half of the people in that country club have been to jail for embezzlement or tax fraud. It will probably only enhance my reputation with that crowd," Celeste said, falling apart into raucous laughter. "Besides, you always did look handsome in stripes."

Duncan grabbed his mother's white, silk handkerchief from her table and dabbed the corners of her eyes with it. "If you had only told me sooner about the criminal element there, I would have stolen their annual golf trophy to make you look good."

As her laughter died down, Celeste leaned her head on her son's shoulder. "I'm happy now."

_Seriously. I must have knocked into something. There's no way she just said that out loud. Mom doesn't 'do' happy, she does 'content'._

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look at her. "You are?"

She nodded against his shoulder. "Yep. Even if it makes me sound gauche to admit it."

"Will you come visit me when I'm, you know...gone?"

Celeste sighed and interlaced her fingers with his. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away, darling."

Duncan knew it was crazy, and that he had no reason in the world to feel that way, but he realized at that moment that he was happy too.

* * *

Dick looked at Mac with an odd expression as she slogged her way over to his bed, dragging her feet along the grey cement floor like a child forced to stop playing and come to dinner.

He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing he had more questions than she had time to give answers.

Mac looked at the ground and kneaded her hands together. "So...you're probably wondering what all of that was about."

"You think?" he asked, refusing to break his visual hold on her. He was mad, pissed actually, but he had no idea why. He had never felt like this before, never experienced a visceral jab to the gut like the one he'd been weathering since Mac had traded herself for him to that sleazy Russian guy.

"You need a hospital," she said, but he could tell there was something else behind it.

_What are you hiding, Ghostworld?_

Dick may not have known as much about facts and figures as Mac, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut and let a person speak. Big Dick had taught him that. When people get nervous, they tend to ramble, and that's when you get out a pen and take notes. If you keep quiet long enough they'll tell you all their secrets.

She bit her lip hard and and he could see her wince from the pain. "I just, I don't know, I can't just leave you injured like this without real medical care. We're friends, right?"

He leaned forward and wiped a speck of blood from her lip with his thumb, and he could feel a shiver run through her.

_I wonder what it feels like to kiss her?_

"Oh." Mac held her hand to her lip. "That's not embarrassing at all."

He looked down at his chest. "I'm immune to the grossness at this point. Besides, I think I've got you beat in the leaking blood department," he said, touching the frayed edge of his soggy bandage.

"Huh. That really is embarrassing for you."

_She's kind of cute when she's anxious. Damn. These drugs I'm on must really be strong. _

Dick recoiled from his own thoughts.

_What the hell has gotten into me? She's Cass's girl. You can't look at her like that, bro. It's not right. Plus, in case you forgot, she hates your guts._

"I didn't mean...I was joking." Mac dropped her face into her hand. "It's like I've lost all ability to form meaningful sentences."

"Relax, Ghostworld, why do your sentences need to be meaningful?" he asked. "Just tell me what's up. I may not remember much, but I'm like, right here and I have eyes. Something's up with you."

She nodded slowly and closed the distance between them. "Look, I don't know how much you remember about the past week, but you and me...we...we're friends now, okay?"

Dick smiled brightly and pulled her closer to him by her forearm. "We're friends?"

"Yeah."

_Holy shit. We are?_

"You and me?" he asked, gesturing between them, unsure if she was playing a joke or exaggerating. "Actual friends, not friends of friends?"

Mac exhaled her exasperation. "Yes Dick, real friends."

"Not booty-call friends?" he asked hopefully.

She scowled. "Do I_ look_ like one of your booty call friends?"

"Point taken." She tried to pull back and he grabbed onto her other forearm. He felt the weight of her arms in his grasp and found himself absentmindedly rubbing his thumbs in a rhythm, back and forth on her arms to soothe her. "Then what the fuck are you doing, Mackie?"

She looked up at him for the first time in total shock. "Excuse me?"

"What. The fuck. Are you doing?" he repeated in staccato. "Do you think I'd let any friend of mine, much less a chick friend, stay here with this freak show while I bail?"

Mac went to bite her lip again, but he blocked her with his finger, eliciting an even bigger look of shock.

"Look, I'm a loyal guy, okay? I'm like, you know when there's fighting down in the trenches, I'm the guy who would run out into the middle of the jungle and dive on a grenade to save his troops."

"So...you're a war hero?" she asked, amused.

"Whatever. I'm down for my crew. That's all I'm saying," he said, flipping his hair out of his face.

"I know that, okay? Though, you know you can't really do trench warfare in the jungle, Dick, right?"

He jerked her closer. "Big picture, MacKenzie! Look at it."

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking contrite.

"My point is, if we're really friends like you say we are, I can't leave. Hell, even if we weren't friends, I couldn't do that to a girl. But I mean, I like you...you know, because...uh...you were Beaver's girl, and I don't think he'd want me to leave you here."

Mac's lips parted in horror and he could instantly tell it was a mistake to mention his brother.

_Fuck. What did you mention Cass for, man? Stupid! Now she's gonna think the only reason you like her is because you have to. That's not true, right? It doesn't feel that way...it feels like...I don't know, but it's not that._

"Please, don't let any misplaced loyalty to Cassidy affect anything happening here. After all, he had no problem abandoning me when I needed him most," she said sharply, and tried to turn around.

Dick's grip held steady and she ricocheted back against him from the force of her turn. He wrapped her in his arms and brought his finger to her bottom lip again, gingerly ghosting the place where she bit. "Why do you hurt yourself like that?"

She looked into his eyes fearfully and he could hear her rough intake of air, sending a shock of electricity to his groin.

_I know that sound. Why is that so familiar?_

"About the Cass thing...I'm sorry. Look, I don't know what to say. I'm not good with shit like this, Mac. I just want...I don't know, I want you to stay safe, and I don't think you will be if you stay here alone." He was suddenly very aware of her breasts pressing up against his side and the intoxicating scent of her hair as it tumbled into her face, and something about it all felt oddly comforting to him.

"Neither will you," she said, her chest starting to heave, belying her calm demeanor. "But you need a doctor and I don't."

He shook his head. "I'm not going."

"You have to," Mac said firmly.

"No way. If you're staying, then I'm staying. You never leave a bro behind. It's like, the second rule of friendship," he explained.

Her brow crinkled. "What's the first – forget it." She shook the line of thought from her head. "You're leaving. It's already been settled, okay? Can you just do this for me?"

"Why?" Dick look suspiciously into her eyes and could see something in them that he didn't quite recognize but felt deep in his core. It was a connection that he didn't know they had, that he didn't know he was capable of having at all.

_What the hell is happening to me?_

"Please."

He started to panic at the thought of leaving her there, and suddenly the round softness of her bosom and her jasmine-scented hair was suffocating him. "Is there something I should know, Mac?"

She smiled tightly and looked at him curiously. "Nope. Move along. Nothing to see here."

Dick ran a hand through his hair and wondered why he suddenly felt so nervous.

_Why is she making me nervous? I'm supposed to make her nervous! Wait – do I?_

He ran a hand down her cheek and gently grasped her chin to turn her face so he could look at it, to see what she was thinking.

"Do you...I'm probably gonna get smacked for this but...do you...you know, _like _me...in a non-friend way?"

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to jerk her arms away. "You have to go, Dick. Seriously. Stop screwing around."

"Mac, did something happen with us? Did we, uh...damn, I've never had a problem saying stuff like this before, but...you're weirding me out."

"That's because I'm weird, or did you forget?" Mac asked, her eyes now drifting desperately toward the door.

Dick felt the corners of his mouth start to rise and he stared longingly at her collarbone, wondering what it would feel like under the rough of his tongue. "I think maybe I like weird."

_No you don't! Shit. This isn't normal. You've got to do something, dude. Ask her what happened. Just fucking ask her!_

"Did we fuck or something?"

_Well, you could've been a little more suave than that, bro._

Mac's mouth tightened and he knew this was bad news, he'd pissed off enough ladies to know the signs.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like..."

"No," she said swiftly. "No, we didn't 'fuck' as you so elegantly phrased it. No, something didn't 'happen with us'. When I said we were friends, I was being nice, because you're injured, because you're Logan's best friend, because I know C-Cassidy would have wanted me to take care of you." Dick released her arms and she brought a hand to her mouth, almost as if she was choking back vomit.

_God, I didn't mean to piss her off like that. Is she gonna puke?_

"Mac..." He reached out to touch her but she had already wandered out of his reach.

She shook her head violently. "You – we aren't anything to each other, okay? We're nothing. I thought maybe, if I said we were friends, that you'd listen to me and go to the hospital, but you're just such a bonehead..."

His breathing started to speed up and he could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow.

_What the fuck is she saying and why do I even give a shit?_

Mac ran a hand over her generous curves and his eyes took the journey with it, then she crossed the room back toward him with purpose. "I want to stay here, okay? I like Alexei, and I want to stay."

He blinked. "No."

Anger flashed in her frenzied eyes. "Yes. He's exactly the type of guy I've always imagined myself with, and if you fuck this up for me..." She hiccuped a gulp of air involuntarily. "If you screw this up for me Dick, I will never forgive you. Never."

The pain in his chest burned hot, but it wasn't coming from his wound. "You _like _him?" he asked with total disbelief.

Mac grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I really do, okay? So please just do this for me? Please?"

The look she was giving him made the searing pain in his chest grow more intense. "Yeah. If that's what you really want."

He meant it. He wanted her to be happy, for whatever strange reason, even if that meant he had to leave her there.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into it. "Thank you," she whispered, in a barely audible tone. "Thank you."

Mac started to slip through his arms, and before he knew what he was doing, he pulled her close again and pressed his lips against hers.

Dick's hands cradled her face, as his tongue plunged into her mouth and became enveloped in the softness. Her lips were like pillows, and he could taste the sweetness of wine on her breath tinged with a metallic tang from her cut. His fingers pressed into the sides of her face and cool strands of her hair fell down and tickled them. His heart was beating out of his chest and he wondered briefly if it was possible to have flashbacks from eating a tequila worm.

He didn't know why he did it, why he wanted to do it, but now that he had, he wasn't so sure he'd be able to stop.

_Oh my God. _

Mac ripped herself out of his arms and ferociously slapped his face with a force that seemed to surprise even her. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words escaped.

"Time's up," an accented voice called out from the doorway.

* * *

**A/N – Okay, I apologize if this was at all incoherent - please feel free to PM me (I'd prefer a PM to a public post about it) any typos/repeated words/grammatical mistakes that annoyed you. I will proof this monstrosity tomorrow and edit. I really wanted to get this chapter out to you all, so I rushed through it.**

**Yeah, it's a little angsty, but it's all to set things up for the next fic. There are only a few chapters left in this one, but the good news is that I have already written most of the next chapter, so it shouldn't be long. The even better news, is that I've finished the outline for the sequel, so it should be tighter and more on point that this one. You've all made my first VM fic such an amazing experience and I am beyond excited to write the next one (if you still want it).**

**Anyway, thanks to everybody who is reading - and thank you to all of 66 of you who have put this fic as a favorite, and to the 133(!) of you who have it on alert. You are all so encouraging and sweet. I really appreciate all of the reviews and PMs you've been leaving for me. I'm giddy with excitement for the VM movie, so forgive the rambling! Hope you liked this chapter :)**


	37. Chapter 37

**Thanks for all of the extra alerts and favs that have been added! Even if the story is done – if you want to know when the sequel is posted, put an alert on this fic and I'll announce it here. I don't anticipate a huge gap before I start, since I already have the story mapped out.**

******Only a couple more chapters to go. Lots of stuff happening in this one and I am praying you don't want to kill me after you read it (some of you no doubt will). Events that occur here will drive the sequel, so I_ had_ to do it. Hope it keeps you on the edge of your seat. I should warn you though, this is a long one so bring snacks.**

**Anyway – as usual, thanks for reading – I really appreciate the reviews and look forward to them every time I post.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 37**

The moonlight reflecting off the water cast the otherwise dark bedroom in an otherworldly glow.

Veronica rolled off of the bed and admired the floor-to-ceiling windows. She walked to the edge of the room then placed her forehead and hands against the cold glass to look at the beach below.

"I really hate it when you do that," Logan said, as he sat up in the bed and ran a hand through his mass of rumpled hair, messing it up even further. "What if the glass comes loose and you fall?"

She turned around and leaned backward on the glass wall, exposing her naked form to him. "How's this?" She lifted her foot up and rested it behind her. "Better now?" she asked, with mischief behind her eyes.

_God, she's beautiful. I'll be so pissed off if I wake up and none of this is real._

"Oddly...yes." He grinned indulgently at her as he imagined the things he'd like to do to her up against that wall.

Veronica smirked and he could tell she was reading his thoughts. "You know, you're all 'concerned' about my safety until the opportunity presents itself to fuck me up against something new. I'm almost positive you'd roll me into a ravine if you thought the sex would be hot there."

Logan crawled to the foot of the bed and sat opposite her. "Would there be sloped walls in this ravine? Perhaps a large rock I could bend you over?" He reached forward and pulled her away from the wall until she was standing over him. He grasped her ass and pulled her legs flush against his knees, then buried his face into her stomach and wrapped his arms around her torso. "That's better."

_I could die right in this spot._

He could feel her fingers twining in his hair as he exhaled warm air into her bellybutton.

_This is it. This is the feeling I've been looking for my whole life, and it's just as amazing as I thought it would be._

"Don't you dare move, Ronnie."

Her stomach bounced lightly with laughter under his cheek as pale dander tickled his nose. "Logan, you know we have places to go, people to see, programming genius friends to rescue from cutthroat Ukrainian oligarchs..."

"Your dad said Leo was about to get Mac out of there. That means we can stay just...like...thissss..."

Veronica leaned over and kissed the top of his head a few times. "While you are a tempting little morsel, the answer is still no."

Logan tightened his grip around her waist. "Sorry Bobcat, you know I've never been able to take no for an answer, and I'd hate for you to think I've moved you in here under false pretenses."

"Ah, but I don't see any of my things here yet, do you? The moral of the story has something to do with chickens hatching and counting and..."

"Your stuff is downstairs," he murmured into her belly. "I had a courier bring it over while you were asleep."

_Had to do it before you changed your mind. I'm not stupid._

Veronica tipped his head up to look at her through his half-lidded eyes. "How did you manage that? We've barely been back a day."

"I'm rich, remember? Rich people can get whatever they want whenever they want. It's one of the perks of the job," he said, squeezing her behind for good measure. "Anyway, It's not like you had much stuff, and – shockingly – it was all still packed in your suitcases. I guess you like to travel light, makes life easier when you need to bolt in the night," he said dramatically.

She dropped her hands from his head. "Hilarious."

Logan lifted her hands and placed them back on the sides of his face. "You didn't let me finish. I was about to suggest that you buy yourself a whole new wardrobe now, since you're staying for good this time. You can't very well walk around Southern California wearing tweed suits like you're on the X-files, though Scully always did look surprisingly sexy in them."

Veronica snorted and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yeah, I'll get right on it, right after I pay the electric bill and rent at my office with my 'profits' from this month. Kinda hard to earn a living when you spend nearly a week trapped in the dank basement of a megalomaniac."

"I'll take you shopping."

_Yeah, there's no way she's going to go for this, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't try._

Her face dropped and her could feel her body tense in his arms. "I don't want to go shopping, Logan. It's a kind offer, but I think you know me well enough to understand that I'm not going to take your money."

Forcing her down into his lap, Logan nuzzled her ear. "Our money. We live together now, remember?"

The room was quiet, except for their breathing as an unasked question hung pregnant in the air like an oversized bubble waiting to be popped.

She shook her head slowly and stared out at the inky ocean through the glass wall. "It's your money, Logan. We aren't married."

He swallowed thickly and smoothed his hand over her naked arms, goose-pimpled from the cold night air. "We could be..."

_FUCK. I clearly need a new verbal filter if it lets gems like this slip through. God, I won't be surprised at all now if I wake up tomorrow morning and the only thing left of her is the imprint of her body on the mattress and a skid mark from one of her boots next to the front door. It took eight years on-and-off of wooing to get her here and I'm going to undo the whole thing with one dumb fucking slip of the tongue. Smooth move, Echolls._

A long hiss of breath escaped Veronica's lungs. "That..._that _is a conversation for another time." She cradled his head, and then kissed his temple once before standing up to leave.

_Fuck fuck fuck. This is it. It's over. I know it. You had the moon, asswipe, did you really need to shoot for the stars so soon after?_

Logan watched helplessly as she floated away from him and toward the staircase, like the material world's most vivid apparition.

As Veronica's foot sank down onto the first step, she abruptly stopped. "I love you, Logan," she whispered in a just audible tone without turning, but by the time it registered in his brain, she had already vanished.

* * *

From across the street, Keith watched Leo skirt the perimeter of the Red Room Club with his gun drawn up against his chest.

"Nothing on this side, chief. Anything at the back?" Leo said through his earpiece mic.

Keith checked out the back door of the club through high-powered binoculars. "Nothing he...wait a second..."

The door opened half way and then promptly fell closed again.

_Come on comrades, show yourselves. Give me something to work with._

Keith's eyes narrowed, and he leaned in for a closer look.

The door opened once more and two suit-wearing goons appeared from inside, supporting an incapacitated Dick who was struggling to walk.

_Hello? Tall, blond, barely able to stand – yep, kind of fits the description to a tee. Man, it's nice to get good news every once in a while to keep the spirits up. _

Keith let out the breath he was holding and pressed the button on the walkie. "Leo. They're loading what I think is Casablancas into the back of a black Escalade. Can't see their plates yet, but I'm going to follow them," he said, squinting hard to make out the face of the man being carted into the vehicle like chattel.

Dick stumbled as he crawled into the back seat and winced as the door shut behind him.

_Yikes. That kid needs a hospital, yesterday._

"He's injured, but alive," he reported, smiling widely as he climbed over the center console into the driver's seat. "If you don't hear anything from Mac in another two minutes, I want you to get her out of there. I'm deploying Sacks to back you up. He should be there in 10 minutes. Roger?"

"Roger that" Leo's voice echoed on the other end of the radio.

Keith turned the key, and the engine sputtered for a moment before purring loudly as he gunned the gas pedal. He put the car into drive and pulled onto the road.

* * *

A fully-dressed Veronica crossed the beach house foyer with her keys in hand.

"Oy!" Logan called out as he emerged from the kitchen holding two bright-red MacIntosh apples. He tossed the larger one to her, which she caught in mid-air.

Veronica tilted her head in question and examined the piece of ripe fruit. "The answer is yes." At his strange look, she clarified. "You are the fairest."

He sidled up to her and she curled into his embrace. "Take a bite, me pretty" he said, lifting her own hand to her mouth. "We don't need you getting dizzy again."

She locked eyes with Logan and sank into it. He felt his dick twitch at the crack of her teeth against the apple, juice trickling from the side of her mouth.

_Just fucking kill me now. Either this is the sexiest apple I've ever seen or she is doing things to my brain that should be illegal. If I don't learn to pace myself I'm going to break her in half by next week...if she's still around then, that is. _

He bent his knees to lower himself to her height and slowly licked the apple juice from side of her mouth. Veronica's eyes fell closed and she accidentally dropped her handbag. "Oops" she said with a goofy smile on her lips.

_Don't say anything, dude. Keep your mouth shut. If you don't bring it up, you can pretend it never happened._

Logan combed the hair out of her face. "About before..."

_What the hell is wrong with you? Stop talking, man!_

Veronica's eyes reopened and she cupped the sides of his face. "It's okay, Lo. I know you didn't mean..."

_Yes I fucking did, and I can tell by the look on your face that you don't believe a word coming out of your own mouth._

She stood on her toes and pressed her mouth against his, effectively ending the awkwardness between them. "Come on, Valentino. Crime waits for no man." She tried to pull away, but he held her against the wall.

"Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?" Logan kissed Veronica on either side of her neck. "That was Tupac."

She tickled his sides and he immediately loosened his grip on her, collapsing into giggles. "He also said 'I don't mean to sound sleazy, but tease me, I don't want it if it's that easy'" she said in her best hip-hop impression, as she slipped out of his grasp and scurried over to the console table to grab her keys, only to discover one, long-stemmed, ivory rose lying on top of them.

Veronica flashed that secret smile that belonged only to him. "You're pretty amazing, you know that?" She lifted the flower to her nose to inhale its scent, inadvertently knocking the note that accompanied it onto the floor. "I don't know how you manage to do half the things you do – and don't say it's because you're rich, because most men in general aren't even 10% as romantic as you are."

_Shit. How long has that been in here? How could they have bypassed my security system? The farthest they've ever gotten before is my car. This is worse than I thought._

"Maybe you just inspire me?" He pulled her tight up against his body and covertly punted the note under the console with his foot.

Logan heart thumped wildly in his chest, but he forced himself to appear calm for her sake. She didn't need another problem to worry about. Not right now, anyway.

He ushered her to the front door and pulled it open for her. "After you" he gestured with the apple still in his hand.

Veronica took another bite of her apple and started across the driveway toward the car. Once she reached the door, she noticed he wasn't with her and turned back. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah. I, uh, forgot my wallet. Be back in a second." Logan shouted from the doorway, before disappearing through it.

He placed his untouched apple on the table then quickly fell to his knees and groped frenetically under the console to retrieve the card. Once in hand, he fell back onto his elbows and unfolded it.

_**My dearest Logan,**_

_**Freedom isn't free**_

_**No matter how far you run**_

_**Pain is eternal**_

_**- Always watching**_

Logan looked around the room as he shoved the note deep into his back pocket, then wondered for a moment if it was wrong to be impressed that his stalker knew their way around a threatening haiku. _Surely other stalkers put less craft into their work? _

_This person has a flair for the dramatic, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised they're obsessed with me, all things considered._

Veronica held the phone to her ear and watched Logan approach the car with apprehension.

Logan wrenched open the passenger side door and climbed in.

"Yes, of course I promise. I'll let you know as soon as I talk to him, okay? Bye" she said as she ended the call.

"Talk to me about what?_"_

_I'm not sure I want to do this. No, scratch that – I'm not sure I CAN do this. _

"Why would you assume that you're the 'him' I'm referring to?" Veronica asked.

Logan's face darkened. "Enlighten me, then. Who is the other 'him' in your life?"

She momentarily held his gaze in a game of chicken and then broke away. "You're the only 'him' I want. You ought to know that by now."

The rear-view mirror slammed into the windshield as Logan practically dove over the console to maul her.

"Logan!" Veronica shrieked as she playfully pushed him off of her. "I'm wearing my gun, genius!"

He stole a few more kisses from her and retreated to his own seat. Her eyes darted to the passenger's side of the car and she shook her head. "Animal."

"Most definitely, but you love it." He grinned his most winning smile. She knew more than anybody how much these small declarations of faith and fidelity meant to him. They were everything.

_Especially when you shut the poor guy down when he dared to bring up the M word. You know you're not hiding from this thing forever. He's not going to suddenly forget he wants to spend the rest of his life with you._

Veronica wanted that too. She wanted to build a life with with Logan, filled with beachfront houses, Italian food and lots of canine companions. She just wasn't sure she needed – or wanted – the complications that often accompanied getting legally married. Shouldn't wanting to be together be enough? Why does he always need to make such a big deal out of things?

_You know why. He wants it for the exact same reason you don't._

_I'm not going to leave this time!_

_You say that now, but what happens when he slides that ring on your finger? It may as well be a pair of shackles. And then there's the kid thing, which you don't have the balls to bring up again._

_I do so!_

_I'm arguing with my self now? Is this the first sign of dementia?_

A smile crept across her lips. "Possibly."

"Possibly, my ass," he said, and leaned over to kiss her lips gently. "Now tell me who that was."

_Dammit! I thought he would drop it. _

_As if. You knew he wouldn't!_

Veronica reached over and grabbed Logan's hand. "It's a whole thing, and we need to get to Mac. It can wait."

"Famous last words," Logan grumbled under his breath, then thankfully was distracted. "Why are we in the Saturn again? How did this happen?" he asked with disdain.

She brushed the underside of Logan's chin with the head of her rose. "Many people are drawn to the Saturn. It's a collector's piece."

"A piece of sh - -"

"Silence!" she said, plopping the flower on top of his head.

He snatched the rose out of her hand and examined it closely from stem to bud.

"It's called a 'rose', Logan. No doubt you've sent thousands of them in apology bouquets to your various conquests throughout the years."

_Why am I starting with this shit again? Bad Veronica!_

He rolled his eyes at her. "They send _me_ roses, Ronnie."

"This one is mine" she said, snatching her flower back. Just as she was about to turn the engine key, Logan swiped it from her, yanking it roughly out of the ignition. "Give me the key, Logan."

"Who was on the phone?" he asked. "We said no more secrets."

_Why do you even bother? He's not Dick Casablancas, he's obviously going to ask followup questions._

Veronica's face softened and she let her head drop against the headrest, then gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands. "You really want to do this now?"

Logan moved his seat back and placed his feet up onto the dashboard, crossed at the ankles. "Regale me," he demanded, with the arrogance of a bored, Roman emperor.

She knew she wasn't winning this round, it was clear he intended to entrench until she ponied up the information he wanted.

"That was Duncan," she said in a measured tone, knowing full well she would still be met with a look of unease. "He called to let me know that he managed to cut a deal with the DA."

Logan's face lit up. "Yeah? That's great news. Why were you acting so Mars-like then?"

She cleared her throat and stalled for time. "He's doing six months upstate as part of the deal."

He ran a hand over his mouth, then rested his chin in his palm. "Shit. How far upstate?"

Veronica shrugged. "Not sure yet. Could be LA, could be farther up."

He turned to her and curled up on the mostly reclined seat. "Maximum security?"

"No, thank God," she said, prompting his sigh of relief.

"Good, because I cannot say I really recommend those, and I like to think of myself as a connoisseur."

_And now for something a little different...honesty!_

"That's not all." Veronica licked her lips and cleared her throat one more time. "He wants us to take Lilly while he's gone."

Logan looked at her blankly, barely registering a reaction. "And?"

"And...he wants her to live with us for six months while he's in prison," she explained, as he hadn't heard.

"Yeah, I got that. So, you told him yes, right?" he asked.

Veronica sat up straight, her face screwed into a look of incomprehension. "No, of course I didn't! I told him I needed to talk to you first."

He shrugged. "Okay, we've talked, so now you can call him back and say yes."

_Say what?_

She brought both hands to her head and pressed, feeling as if her head might explode if she didn't provide enough counter-pressure. "Don't you think we should, you know...actually talk?"

Logan sat up to face her. "What's there to talk about, Veronica? Lilly needs a place to stay. Celeste is too sick to take care of her properly and we're not going to let her stay with your mom and Jake."

_Oh God. I wouldn't leave a plant with my mom at this point, much less an innocent child. _

The mere mention of her mother prompted a fresh wave of nausea and Veronica felt like the car was starting to run out of oxygen. All she could smell was the cloyingly sweet scent of the rose and her own buttery perfume filling the limited atmosphere. She brought a closed fist to her mouth to hold back the dam. "No. But there has to be another option."

His expression pinched with disbelief, and she instantly felt like the worst person in the world. "You're really considering saying no?"

_YES!_

"I don't know? I don't know, Logan. It's a lot to ask, okay? It's a huge commitment!"

_Am I crazy or did we accidentally switch bodies? Funny, I don't feel like a 12 year old boy..._

"I know how fond you are of those," he spit acridly.

_Seriously? I can't win today. I have to get out of here. I need air! Oh God, I want to get out of this car more than I've wanted practically anything else in my life, but I know if I step one foot out of this door I've fucked things up with him for real._

Veronica's head was light and she could feel her throat start to close, so she quickly pushed open the driver's side door to get some much needed air.

_Just opening the door a crack. I won't go anywhere, I promise. Just a crack._

"You're leaving?" Logan asked, his spine snapping to attention.

Her head whipped around violently. "I'm not leaving, but your confidence in me is humbling. You know, Logan, if you keep assuming that I'm going to abandon you, it only gives me less of a reason to stay." She crossed her arms over her chest, then turned away from him to stare out of the window in silence.

_Bitch move Veronica, and you know it. Way to hit him where it hurts._

She knew he was behind her, she could sensed his presence before she'd even felt his breath on the side of her neck.

"I'm sorry, Veronica." He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "I'm an idiot, okay? Of course we should talk about it. You're totally right to want to think this through, it's a big decision."

Logan left another kiss on her cheek, and this time Veronica leaned into it before turning around to face him. He slid his warm hands up the sides of her neck and pressed their foreheads together. Just feeling his touch seemed to ground her.

_Oh thank God. _

"I'm sorry too" she whispered. "For what I just said. Of course you're not driving me away. I don't know what came over me."

He kissed her tentatively, then pulled away. "Whatever you decide is fine with me, Bobcat. I mean it. It's your call, and I'll back you up."

Veronica smiled. "No. You're right. Of course we'll take Lilly. We love her."

_We do love her, that much I know._

Logan grinned and kissed her again. "I'll call Duncan on our way over to let him know."

"Why are you so happy about this?" she asked, unable to keep the smile from her face either.

He exhaled and smoothed his hands down the sides of her hair. "I don't know why, but I'm kind of excited about having another little girl in the house."

Veronica socked him in the arm. "I'm petite."

* * *

Mac sat gingerly perched on the edge of one of the scarlet-colored couches that flanked the walls of Petrenko's office, staring blankly into the ether as Alexei worked on his laptop.

Like an oasis in the desert, the mogul's personal space posed a stark contrast to the rest of the the dank basement. Lush furniture with gilded edges filled the tasteful room, and the textured, fabric walls were lined with scenic oil paintings from the old country. It was something out of a Chekhov play, a well-appointed study housed in a nobleman's country estate.

"Cindy, you look upset," Alexei said, genuine concern laced in his voice.

_Ya think?_

Her gaze refocused, and she leveled her now-frigid eyes at his. "Well Alexei, as a matter of fact, I am a little bit upset. More than a little actually."

He spun around in his $2,000 ergonomic office chair and his brow creased with empathy. "I don't like to see you so upset. What can I do to make you feel better?" he asked, rising out of his chair to join her on the couch with his computer.

_Not that._

"I wouldn't mind proof that Dick made it safely to the hospital," she said.

Alexei checked his watch. "They should be getting there right now, if they haven't already." With the stroke of a few keys, he pulled up a live video feed from the inside of the van transporting Dick. "Your wish is my command."

Mac leaned forward and peered intently into the screen. There was no sound, but she noticed a long fitful-looking figure at the bottom of the screen stretched out and writhing uncomfortably across several seats. "Audio?"

With a few more keystrokes, the sound of Dick's moaning filled the room. Mac winced and turned away.

Alexei wrapped his free arm around Mac's waist and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "He'll get there soon, darling."

_He had better, or I will make it my mission to infect every single computer at Alexicon Software personally._

"Can I offer you a cordial? Some port perhaps? It works wonders settling the nerves."

She tried to hold back her venom, knowing full well that the key to her freedom would not be won with antagonism.

"No, thank you," she said, and forced a small smile.

The van onscreen screeched to a halt outside of the hospital ER. One of the men hopped out of the car and yanked the sliding door open, as the driver climbed into the back seat and pulled Dick from his makeshift bed.

"Oh fuck!" Dick shouted as the man inside the van hitched him up against his side and dragged him off of the seat. "Ahhhh. Fuck, that hurts!"

Mac felt each scream of pain reverberate through her core like the stroke of an axe, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from cursing.

_If something happens to him..._

The man inside the van rolled Dick's ailing body out of the van, letting it drop to the ground with a sickening thud.

_Oh God!_

Mac gasped and leapt to her feet. "What the hell was that?" she screamed angrily, pointing at the screen. "What was that?" she shouted at Alexei.

Petrenko soothed her arm with his palm and pulled her back to the couch by her hand. "We had a deal. Take him to the hospital. He's there now, yes?"

Her face scrunched in anguish for a moment, then immediately relaxed into a smooth visage as she reminded herself that Dick would be getting the help he needed soon.

_Panicking won't help him – or you. Calm. Down. Now._

The last thing she saw before the men slammed the door shut, was a flash of Keith Mars dashing in front of the van to collect Dick from the ground.

"Get a doctor now! He's a gunshot victim!" she heard the sheriff faintly scream before the vehicle peeled out of the hospital driveway at top speed.

_Thank you, thank you, thank you..._

"See? Your friend is going to be fine," Alexei said in a tone as sweet as a bag of cotton candy that had been left to rot in the sun all day.

She nodded, and then looked up and him fearfully. "I guess it's my turn to hold up my half of the bargain, huh?"

_Am I supposed to strip or let him take my clothes off? Do we do it here? I have no idea how this works, I'm Q, not Pussy Galore._

"You will," he said with a knowing smile, as he stroked her cheekbone with the back of his hand.

She swallowed thickly. "Here?"

Alexei looked at her quizzically. "Here...what?"

"You know...are we doing _this_ here?" she asked.

"What on Earth are you talking about, Cindy?"

_THE SEX!_

"Uh...the...I assumed you wanted to..." She could tell by his expression that he had no idea what she was talking about.

He finally caught on and began to laugh. "Cindy, my love, of course I want to, I mean, you're a beautiful woman, but I'm not a monster."

She was astonished and truly at a loss for what to say.

Alexei tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and cupped her face with one hand. "I'm not in the habit of forcing women to give themselves to me. Back in the day, I used to have to force them not to - that is to say, I do okay for myself. If you'd like to be with mer, and I hope you will one day, I'll be waiting. If you don't, you don't." He shrugged and poured her a cordial from a nearby decanter nestled on an antique silver tray. "Drink this, darling. You're looking a little pale."

Mac's mouth fell open and she could feel her tongue run dry. He held the glass to her lips and she took a long sip. "Thank you."

_And I really mean that._

She finished the drink and handed it back to him. "But Alexei, if you didn't want that, then what did you mean when you implied you wanted me to stay here?"

"I meant...here." He waved his arms in a semi-circle. "In the greater sense. At Alexicon, as my chief programmer. I'll have a corner office cleared out for you."

"Oh." Relief flooded Mac's veins and she started to laugh giddily as he body released it's tension.

Petrenko watched her with amusement and a hint of something else, and scooted closer to her.

"I feel like such an idiot. I can't believe I thought that," she said, running both hands through her shaggy.

Alexei ran a finger down her bare arm and she felt her body shiver. "Well...you weren't entirely wrong. Just because I'm not planning to _force _you to be with me, doesn't mean I won't get what I want. I always do. Besides, if you could be bought that way, you wouldn't interest me...and you do interest me, Cindy. A lot."

_Stay cool. He's just a guy who wants to get in your pants. You dealt with a million of them on a daily basis at Hearst. Just find a good time to leave and excuse yourself._

Petrenko quickly covered Mac's mouth with his own, leaned forward to deepen the kiss and pulled her closer to him by her waist.

_Oh, crap._

* * *

Veronica and Logan walked briskly toward the front door of the Red Room Club.

Logan turned to his girlfriend. "What's your plan, exactly, Bobcat?"

"No idea, but I'm sure it will come to me by the time I get to the front door," she said with conviction.

"I know this isn't going to win me any Brownie points with you but, maybe we should call your dad?"

"Not necessary." Veronica pointed to Leo, who was slowly approaching the front door and ran to catch up.

_Hello you! You are much easier to manipulate than my dad._

She folded her arms and cocked a hip out. "Of all the vodka joints in all the world, you had to walk into mine."

Leo turned around and smirked when he saw her. "I knew you wouldn't be able to keep away. I mean, there's actual danger involved, which I know is a big Mars family turn-on."

"Don't use 'Mars family' and 'turn-on' in the same sentence ever again, Leo. Just...yuck." Veronica wiggled her nose.

The deputy laughed and threw an arm around her shoulder. "If you're a good girl and hang back until I bring her out, I might even let you flick on the siren for the ride back."

"Oh goody!" she said with fake enthusiasm, then put an index finger pensively to her lips. "On second thought, I'm gonna pass."

Leo placed one hand on each of her shoulders and stared her down. "This is police business, Veronica, it's not Federal – not that you're a Fed at the moment anyway."

_Drat! He's right. I have no authority here._

She looked at him with the saddest frown she could muster. "Can I at least stand in the foyer and look tough?"

"I'll give it some real thought," he said with a wink.

Before either of them could walk through the doorway to the building, Mac walked briskly past them into the parking lot. The first person she noticed was Logan, and threw herself into his arms.

"Woah! You are just the droid we're looking for." He wrapped his long arms around her and whispered something into her ear that made her instantly relax.

"Mac!" Veronica screamed and ran to join her friend.

Mac had barely finished hugging Logan when Veronica pull her out of his arms and into her own. "Oh God, I know you must be scared shitless if you're willingly letting us all hug you like this, in public no less."

"I could have really used those sharp skills of deduction an hour ago, Bond," Mac said curtly.

Veronica was taken aback. "I – I'm sorry. What happened? Are you okay?"

_I let her down? I knew I shouldn't have taken that nap! _

Veronica shot Logan a look that said as much and he skulked sheepishly to the other side of Mac.

Mac rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand and exhaled roughly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just been...I found Dick. He's alive, but he's...he was really hurt."

"Yeah, the sheriff radioed that he caught up with him at the hospital about ten minutes ago. He spotted them loading Casablancas into an unmarked van and tailed it all the way to the intake driveway of the ER. When he knows anything more about Dick's condition, he's going to let me know," Leo said.

"Great. That's just...that's great." Mac looked exhausted and a little weak.

Veronica could tell her friend was starting to lose it and thought Mac could use a moment to get it together. There was no way Leo would be getting a coherent statement from her friend in her current state. "Hey Logan, maybe you could walk Mac to her car and Leo and I will drive down in mine to meet you at the front of the lot? I parked kind of far."

"I thought we agreed this was a police matter, Veronica?" Leo said, tightly.

_You agreed._

"She's a friend. Just give her a few minutes to collect herself and you can interrogate her then. It's not like she's a flight risk," she said.

He nodded. "Yeah, okay. There's kind of something I need to talk to you about anyway."

Veronica wrapped her arms around her friend one more time. "Everything is going to be peachy keen from now on, Mac."

Logan glanced at Leo then laid a bracing kiss on Veronica's lips. She rolled her eyes and held back a smirk. "You're incorrigible."

"All I heard was that I'm encouraged. And I will." Logan said, then placed a kiss on her cheek. "Officer," he said to Leo with a salute before casually draping an arm around Mac as he ushered her toward her car.

Veronica observed Leo for a moment, looking so professional and competent, and even though she had nothing at all to do with his success, she felt a little proud.

He was a good person, and those were hard to come by in Neptune. In fact, she was pretty sure most of them were currently standing in the parking lot of the Red Room Club.

Veronica watched him out of the side of her eye as they walked in silence.

Leo stopped walking for a moment and held her arm. "Hey Veronica. I seem to remember a promise you made a long time ago to me, about scratching my back."

"Did I?" she asked coyly. "It was so long ago, everything is just sort of a blur."

"Mutual backscratching, is what I believe you called it."

Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Wait...it's coming back to me..." She snapped her fingers angrily. "Nope. I lost it."

He humored her with a fraternal look and threw a muscled arm around her shoulder. "Between you and me, I always knew this backscratching thing was a one-way street."

_He's right. They're all right. Was I always so selfish or did it come on gradually?_

Veronica's hand crept around Leo's back, and raked it up and down a few times gently. "See? I always keep my promises."

_For the most part, it's true. At least I can hold on to that._

"That, you do, Mars. But you know me, I'd still be here, even if you didn't," he said with a shrug.

"Has anybody ever told you what an asshole you are, Leo?" she asked, hand on hip.

"Not since the last time you came to town," he quipped, before noticing Veronica's teeth chattering. "You're like an ice cube," he said, running his hands up and down her bare arms, the face of his watch reflecting the yellow glow of the nearby street lamps.

"It was not a well-planned ensemble, but then again, I am wearing mostly my boyfriend's clothes," she said, looking down at her oversized t-shirt.

Leo took off his jacket and perched it on top of Veronica's shoulders. "Give me your keys."

"Am I being mugged?" she asked jokingly.

Leo exhaled his impatience. "Give me your keys, before we both freeze out here. My legs are longer than yours, so I can get there faster. I'll bring it around to the front. Why don't you warm up a bit in Mac's car while you wait?"

_Leo D'Amato truly is the nicest guy on the planet._

"I thought you wanted to chat?" she asked. "I'm fully prepared to scratch your back like a lotto ticket."

"We can do it once your body temp has returned to a balmy 98.6" he suggested.

Veronica smiled at him, touched by his never-ending well of goodness. "What...an asshole you are."

"Maybe I should try to be though, right? Just a little bit? The ladies don't seem to go for the guy in the white hat."

She tilted her head and considered his statement. "Nope. You've got this knight in shining armor thing down pat, so it would be silly to change now. It's important to know where your talents lie. Besides, your hat is beige, Leo."

Leo took his hat off and looked at it for a second. "Guess that makes me somewhere in-between, huh?" He replaced his hat and winked at her. "Your chariot awaits," he said with a grin, then took off in a light jog toward the Saturn SUV.

Veronica watched him leave, then turned around and shoved her thin arms into Leo's jacket sleeves, and marveled at how much bigger he was than her. It was easy for even her to forget how tiny she was, when she was wielding such an enormous mouth.

She pulled the sides of the standard-issue deputy jacket tightly across her body and shoved both hands in the pockets. As her hands sank deeper, a curious look passed over her features.

_What the hell is this?_

A bus locker key with the number '88' embossed on it was sitting in the left side pocket. She ran her thumb back and forth over the numbers and her forehead creased.

_In my experience, no good thing can be found on the inside of an unregistered bus locker. Hopefully Leo hasn't gotten himself into anything too sticky._

She figured it would be easier to talk with him alone about this than out in the open where anybody could overhear something. Normally, she'd suggest they meet at a private location, but the cloak and dagger routine never really was Leo's style.

_Am I overreacting? Is it stupid to worry about him because of this? It's just a key, it could mean anything...though he did say he needed to talk about something._

From 100 yards back, she watched him unlock the door to her car. Convincing herself she was making too much of the situation, she turned around and headed toward the front of the lot again.

_No. Go with your gut, Mars. Gut instincts are probably what you do best._

"Hey, Leo!" No sooner had Veronica turned her head to the right, than a blinding electric light exploded from the edge of the lot, followed immediately by a loud canon-like boom, that sent her flying through the air several feet until she smacked the ground hard in a prone position, smashing her knees and hands into the pavement. Splinters of tinted glass and flaming shards of metal liberally rained down from the sky.

_Leo?_

Disoriented by whiplash and gasping for air, Veronica painfully flipped onto her back and watched what was left of her 2nd car smolder into a pile of toxic, greying ashes. She was too shocked to cry, too shocked to speak, and even too shocked to merely listen – which she wouldn't be able to do anyway, since the explosion had most likely damaged her eardrums.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion around her as she attempted to stand up and walk toward the burning wreckage, passing everyone around her as they ran in the opposite direction.

_Leo!_

She didn't think she was crying, but Veronica still brought a hand to her face to wipe away the tears she could feel dampening her cheeks. When she looked down at her palm though, there weren't any tears, only blood.

That's when the real crying started.

She tried to shout for Leo but no sound managed to escape her lips, no sound that she would be able to hear anyways. By the time she reached her parking spot, the heat from the fire was the only thing holding her back. She swayed, woozy from the onslaught of uneasy sensations and the thick black smoke that choked her lungs, and nearly tripped over an object in her path.

"Leo..." she just managed to croak out in a rasp that she couldn't hear, then her attention was drawn to the object at her feet.

Veronica shook violently and collapsed to her knees next to a severed arm - Leo's arm – the same one that was kindly warming her shoulders only minutes ago. The face on his wristwatch had been shattered, marking his time of death.

_How could everything have happened so fast?_

The scent of gasoline, incinerated twisted pieces of plastic and burning flesh overcame her. A few more wet coughs followed by dry, aching sobs wracked her frame and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold on any longer.

Veronica forced herself to look down at Leo's arm once more. That blast was meant for her, and by taking advantage of his kindness once last time, she had all but signed his death warrant.

_The least an executioner can do is look a man in the face before she slits his throat. It's only right to give the condemned a last measure of respect before their light has been snuffed out._

The ground was spinning and she felt her consciousness slipping away, like a rolling soccer ball always just out of reach. She willed herself alert with one last gasp of resolve and tried to crawl closer to the car. As her body faltered and began to tank, the last thing she felt was a pair of strong hands grabbing her just before she hit the floor to pull her into a tight embrace.

* * *

**A/N - Do I need to go into hiding? Don't hate me! You know Veronica is always at her most interesting when she's in vengeance mode.**

**Let me know what you think...(Do I really want to know? I'm scared). Please review!**

**PS - As usual, Silverlining2k6 is the shizznit. Thanks for giving this chapter the once-over :)**


	38. Chapter 38

**Not sure if this is the last chapter or if I'm going to do one more – I'll let you decide if this is a good place to end before the sequel (which will continue where this left off).**

**I rushed to get this chapter up because it's my * birthday today * and I won't be around later. You know what I want for my birthday? To reach 700 reviews! **

**As always, silverlining2k6 has mad quasi-beta skillz.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 38**

Logan wrapped an arm around a shell-shocked Mac and walked her in the direction of her car. "You have a new VW now, right?"

She nodded. "It's green, like my lifestyle."

"Did you really customize the engine to run on cooking oil as you had threatened?" he asked with a disgusted expression as he spat out the words like bad meat.

_Keep her talking, man. _

She wasn't saying anything too worrisome, but Logan knew from experience that it was the silences he had to keep an eye on where Mac was concerned.

"Yep. You know I only do it because it offends your delicate sensibilities." Her eyes stayed focused on the ground ahead of them.

"So what you're saying is, were it not for me, you'd be damaging the planet?" he asked.

Mac shrugged. "Driving around in a diesel-fueled, classic muscle car is how I like to roll. You're jacking up my flava with your constant mockery of the eco-friendly lifestyle."

"I'm on to you, Freud. You think you can try the ol' reverse psychology on me. My dad loved to do that, but he wasn't very good at it." Logan circled around to face Mac as he walked backward in front of her.

_He sure was good at swinging a thick piece of rawhide though, and I was good at taking a hit. Guess everybody has their talents._

Her eyes flicked up towards his, and he did his best to hold her attention. "Not that it worked, mind you. To piss him off, I'd make sure to do _exactly_ as he said. Most fathers would love it if their kids listened to them, and yet...those were the times I usually had to call in sick to school the next day."

Mac's eyes widened in horror, and he knew the true meaning of his words had penetrated. Logan had never explicitly told her about the abuse he suffered as a child, but then again, he'd never really outright told anybody. He doubted many people even suspected it.

His mom knew, of course, and Lettie Navarro, who had seen the fruit of Aaron's labor first-hand. He was certain both Lilly and Duncan were aware, but neither had the gumption or desire to say anything about it to his face. Even if they had, there was no way their mother would have allowed them to talk about it with her, much less do anything to help him. Celeste Kane took being a WASP to an art form, wielding avoidance and repression like her palette and brush.

Only Veronica had ever said anything to his face. It was during the summer of Felix's trial and she'd gone back home with him between sessions. She claimed she wanted to help him alleviate his stress, so he assumed that meant he'd be getting a hand job. She did give him a hand job of sorts, but not the kind he was expecting.

It wasn't until her hands glided over the large moon-shaped scar under his right shoulder blade that he felt her fingers tense. To her credit, she never cried or descended into hysterics as most people would have, she merely pressed her lips against every nick and blemish on his marred skin and mumbled something into the back of his neck about bribing the bailiff to throw away the key.

_Then, she flipped me over and gave me a hand job. _

Sometimes, Veronica had the uncanny knack of giving him what he didn't know he needed in the exact way he needed it.

"My childhood was filled with delicious irony like that," Logan said, discomfort settling in. He didn't know what to say to keep Mac's mind occupied, and his compulsive need to fill the silences was making him ramble into dangerous territory.

"Your dad was an asshole," Mac said flatly, as if it were a given, and unlocked the car with her remote keyless entry.

He couldn't help the smirk creeping up the sides of his face. "As usual, you are the mistress of brevity, MacKenzie. You look tired, do you want me to drive?"

She looked at the keys in her hand for a moment and then threw them at him. "Think fast."

He caught them just before they would have crashed into his chest. "Wow. You must really be exhausted if you're letting me drive your new baby."

"No, Echolls, I just like to put you to work. Somebody should." She shrugged and leaned against the side of her car as he reached past her.

"Putting me to work, eh? That's fine by me." Logan opened the passenger door and waited for Mac to get in. "But before you ask, the answer is no: you cannot pay me in RAM."

She threw her head back and laughed. "How about I pay you in - -"

A loud explosion tore through the parking lot, rumbling the floor beneath them and startling Mac into a high-pitched shriek.

"Stay inside and call 911!" Logan slammed the door shut and took off toward the direction of the noise.

_Fuck! Veronica! Oh God, please._

A cacophony of car alarms sang out of unison, drowning out the screams from pedestrians walking nearby. A young baby cried along in competition with several neighborhood dogs who were barking wildly in panic. Ukrainian curse words spilled from the lips of diners emerging from the Red Room Club to investigate the blast, the destruction seemed to shock even the most jaded of Petrenko's thugs.

Yet, Logan heard none of this.

The only sound he could register was his own uneven breathing as he pushed through the burning in his legs to run faster toward the edge of the lot.

_Veronica!_

Deep down, he knew Veronica was somehow connected with the explosion, but he wouldn't let himself acknowledge it. If he lent credence to his suspicions, that would mean that she was dead, and it would have been his fault. He wasn't sure he could withstand losing yet another loved one from his life. Actually, he was certain he wouldn't - especially not her, not his Bobcat.

_Not Veronica. Anybody but her._

'Veronica!" he shouted as loudly as he could over the chaotic din. "Veronica! Ronnie!"

He spotted a lone person lying on the ground at the other end of the lot and stopped short.

_No. No. No. No. No._

Logan looked into the smoke-filled sky and sent up a silent prayer, then nearly tore out his hair as he anxiously grasped it with both hands. He didn't know what he would find when he reached her, but if she was gone, he may as well throw himself on the pyre with her, because he wasn't going to make it back from this.

_She's mine, whether I deserve her or not, and I'm not ready to lose her._

His stomach sank and he bent over to catch his breath and will himself the courage to close the last hundred yards between them.

_If you don't look up, it's not true._

Logan never believed in superstitions before, they had never done him any favors or comforted him when his life was in disarray. He believed in the tangible, the things he could see in front of him, and dealt with them the best he knew how. But for a split second, he convinced himself that what he couldn't see wasn't real, and he sealed his eyelids as tight as a bank vault and made a string of lofty promises he knew he'd never be able to keep.

_Stop fucking around and go to her. She needs you. Man up!_

Logan willed himself to look up, and as he did, he caught sight of the slight figure struggling to stand up.

"Veronica!" Tears threatened his eyes and he took off at top speed toward the woman he loved.

_Why isn't she turning around?Can't she hear me screaming her name? Is she in shock or injured?_

"Ronnie!" he shouted again, but still there was no answer, and his blood pressure climbed with each passing second.

Logan watched with apprehension as Veronica swayed for a moment before dropping onto her hands and knees.

_Shit. She does not look good._

She forced herself up again, but was anything but steady.

His chest was scalding from breathing in lungfuls of hot smoke, but he pushed on.

_This is all my fucking fault. I attract shit and now it's getting all over her too. You fuck too many women and you're bound to piss one of them off enough to kill you._

Veronica collapsed again, and just as she was about to hit the ground, Logan dove forward and grabbed her from behind, like he was stealing third base.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." Logan wheezed his benediction into her hair and her pulled her into his arms.

_Anything. Everything! I'd give it all up to keep her alive. _

She was out cold, but her rib cage was still rising and falling with regularity, so Logan knew she was still breathing. "Baby? Come on, baby, stay with me," he begged, wiping the tiny fragments of glass from her face and hair. "Oh God, I love you. I love you so much. I love you Ronnie..."

He was desperate to kiss her, but he wasn't sure what part of her was safe to touch and didn't want to risk it.

_She's alive. She wasn't in the car._

Logan repeated the affirmation in his head over and over again, but somehow, it still didn't seem real.

_She's alive!_

It would be hard to check for internal injuries right there, but upon his first survey, she looked remarkably untouched. Shallow cuts covered her face and chest, and the skin on each of her hands was skinned, but they would heal quickly. Her knees were probably the worst of her injuries, both appearing swollen and bloodied, but still, he didn't think they looked broken, so that was something.

"I'll never complain about you leaving the caps off of things again." Logan's unhinged laughter was a welcome release. As he gathered her up in his arms and kissed the top of her ear, he noticed the jacket she was wearing and looked around for Leo. "Leo? Leo! You out there man?"

It didn't take him more than a beat to notice the severed arm lying near them in the road. He pulled Veronica closer, choking back a single sob before giving up the fight and letting them all come out unhindered. "Fuck. Leo. Oh fuck, that's Leo. Jesus!"

"Logan Echolls?" a voice screamed from across the lot. "Is that you?"

He squinted his eyes and saw another deputy rushing toward him that he recognized from the station.

_Thank God._

He sighed in relief. "Hang on, baby. Help is on its way soon."

"What the hell happened here?" Sacks asked without slowing his jog. The policeman noticed the small form in Logan's arms, and brought a shaky hand to his mouth. "Is that Veronica? She's not...?"

Logan shook his head. "She's breathing, but she's hurt. She needs an ambulance."

"One's on it's way now." Sacks turned in a circle and took in the hectic scene in front of him. "You haven't seen D'Amato around here, have you?"

_Fuck. I hate giving bad news, and this is by far the worst news anybody could ever have to give someone._

The younger man exhaled a shuddering breath and nodded his head before burying his face into Veronica's hair to kiss her. "He's..." He couldn't say the words, but it didn't take more than that to get the message across.

Sacks' eyes grew wide in horror. "What? Are you sure he's...?" He looked as if somebody had knocked the wind out of him, and he leaned over to regain his bearing.

"I'm sure," Logan said somberly, looking at the smoldering wreckage in front of them. "He must have been in the car when it blew, because he's...he's all around here." He grimly nodded toward the grieving deputy, who was momentarily rendered speechless.

Sacks regained his composure and nervously combed a hand over his thick mustache. He pulled his radio from his utility belt and clicked the talk button. "This is Deputy Sacks, we have an officer down. We have an officer..." He let the button go and sobbed once into the back of his hand.

_Fucking Leo. He was the only one of Veronica's exes I actually respected. If anybody deserved to be with a girl like her, it was him. This is going to kill Keith._

The keening of the ambulance drew closer and Logan looked to Sacks for further instruction.

"Go on, bring her over." He jerked his head toward the approaching EMS van. "I'll have somebody notify Keith to meet you. He's at the hospital already."

Logan hesitated before moving. "Hey, man. I'm sorry about your friend."

Sacks gave a brusque nod and pulled out a roll of yellow police tape to quadrant off the area.

* * *

Keith paced the driveway of the ER intake for the second time in an hour. After dropping Dick off with the medical staff and explaining his circumstances, the young man was whisked into the nearest triage room and given a much-needed blood transfusion, a tetanus shot, and an IV bag laced with antibiotics and morphine.

_The kid's going to be fine. This one had a happy ending, thank God. Savor it, Mars, you know how rare those can be._

He caught sight of his tired reflection in the acrylic glass encasing the instructional CPR poster, written in both Spanish and English.

_Not a confidence booster. Presumably, the staff here should already know how to do that without the need for a visual aid._

The first few bars of "Shattered" by 'The Rolling Stones' played over Keith's cell phone, and he answered the call before the chorus had a chance to cycle through. "Leo?"

"No honey, it's me. Don't you have me in your caller ID?" Alicia asked, slightly miffed.

He paced over to the end of the driveway and cupped his other hand to his forehead, as if it were a pair of night vision goggles complete with digital zoom. "Yeah, look, I just got a call from Sacks that they're bringing Veronica to the hospital."

Alicia gasped. "What happened? Is she going to be okay?"

He exhaled and paced back up the driveway to get a different perspective on the road. "I don't know. There was some kind of explosion in the parking lot. A car bomb or maybe a pipe bomb."

He heard a sharp intake of air. "She wasn't in - -"

"No. I don't think so, but she was near enough. Leo was supposed to be standing guard outside the club, but I can't seem to reach him," he said, getting more agitated by the moment.

_He'd better be passed out in a ditch. It's the only excuse I'm going to buy for him losing contact right now. If I don't hear from him in the next ten minutes, he's going to be a desk jockey until my retirement!_

"You sound stressed. Do you want me to come by?" she asked.

Keith noticed some lights twinkling in the distance and could feel his stomach clench. "Uh...let's see if it's anything serious first. For all we know it could just be a cut or something."

"I'm stopping by," Alicia said, definitively.

He walked back down to the road and could hear the faint wail of the siren as it approached. "It's really silly for you to come all the way out here honey. It could be nothing."

"I'll see you in 15 minutes," she said, and quickly hung up before he could get another word in.

_I love that woman._

Keith laughed and rolled his eyes. "I have no doubt."

The ambulance screeched to a halt in front of him and the back doors flew open. Veronica's gurney was quickly lowered to the ground and whipped past a shell-shocked Keith.

_This was so much worse than I was expecting. To see my baby lying there unconscious..._

Keith looked inside the van to search for a familiar face. "Logan!" he shouted and ran over to help him out of the vehicle. "What happened to her? Is she going to be okay? Are you okay?" He patted the younger man down to check for obvious injuries.

Logan joined the sheriff and they trailed after Veronica's gurney as it was pushed into the ER. "I think she'll be okay. Her vitals are fine, but she might have a concussion, definitely some whiplash and shallow cuts with deep bruising, maybe a hairline bone fracture. They're pretty sure her lungs sound clear, but they can't rule out any internal bleeding until they've examined her further."

_She really does have nine lives._

"He's right to call her a Bobcat" he murmured under his breath with a laugh as his eyes began to well with tears of gratitude.

"You okay, sheriff?" Logan looked at his with curiosity.

Keith dropped his head back and blinked away the impending tears. "That's...that's good news," he said, clapping a hand onto his daughter's boyfriend's shoulder. "You want to tell me how this happened? I thought you were with her?"

A middle-aged nurse in squeaking white loafers approached the men. "We're just going to take Ms. Mars into triage to examine her. You'll both have to wait outside, but I'll come get you when there's any news."

"Thank you." Keith nodded to the woman and turned back to face Logan. "You were saying?"

Logan cleared his throat anxiously. "I was, at first. We were all about to go into the club to get Mac, when she walked out of the front door all on her own."

"Who is 'we'?" he asked.

"Veronica and me. And Leo." Logan looked down at his shoes and scuffed the floor with them. "Veronica thought Mac might need a break to collect herself before being questioned, so she asked me to walk her to her car. Leo said he would take Veronica to get her car."

"Speaking of Leo, any idea where my errant detective could have wandered off to? I've been trying to reach him for the last 20 minutes, but he's not answering."

Logan pressed his palm backward against his mouth for a moment and then took an audibly deep breath. "It was Veronica's car that was blown up."

_No._

Keith shook his head absently and leaned against the nearest wall. He knew what this meant. If two people get into a car that blows up and only one makes it to the hospital, it means the other person doesn't need a hospital.

_Maybe he didn't get into the car? He could have been holding the door open for her when it blew._

He flipped around to face the wall and slammed his fist into it, startling the medical staff around them.

A heavy-set Jamaican nurse popped her head out of a curtain. "He okay?"

Logan placed a hand gingerly on Keith's shoulder and turned to the nurse. "Everything's fine."

_Everything is NOT fine._

"Veronica never made it into that car at all, did she?"

_Of course she didn't, you idiot. You've been doing this for 35 years. You know very well that if she'd been in that car when it blew, they wouldn't be treating her for whiplash and cuts, they'd be picking up pieces of her off of the street corner. Veronica wasn't in the car, she wasn't anywhere near that car when the bomb went off._

Logan reluctantly shook his head like the slowest setting of a metronome.

It was at that moment that Keith noticed the beige jacket that Logan was cradling so carefully in his arms. "Leo was driving," he said, confirming to himself what he already knew. "Leo was driving."

_This is my fault, that car bomb was meant for me. _

_I killed him. I killed him. Oh God! I killed Leo._

That's when the dam broke and he collapsed against the wall in a fit of silent sobs.

* * *

Mac wandered through the antiseptic halls of the hospital, looking for room 323. Her dress was wrinkled and her face streaked with dusty tears, but she needed to be there.

_Where else am I supposed to go? I've never felt this helpless before._

The ER was so hectic, and she had just been in the way, just another body to step around in order to treat those with real injuries. The kind that could be seen, at least.

Besides, with Logan and Sheriff Mars hovering around her, Veronica really didn't need another guardian angel sitting at her bedside. Still, Mac had nowhere to go, since she was too restless to sit alone and there was no way in hell she was going to involve her parents or any of her other friends in this mess.

She found herself outside of room 323 and hesitated, bringing her finger up to trace the number plate in a bid to stall for time.

_Why am I so nervous?_

"Hey! Do you work here?" a voice boomed from the other side of the door. "I'm dying for a glass of water."

Mac smiled and let her forehead drop against the steel plating.

_Was there ever a time he could exist without making his presence known to everyone around him? They were so different that way._

She straightened her posture and took a cleansing breath before opening the door. "I can get you a glass of water."

Dick's face lit up at her presence. "I didn't think I'd see you again for a while. I figured Dr. Evil probably had you wearing a brass bikini, chained to the bottom of his chair. Not that I would mind seeing that at all."

"You're mixing up Austin Powers and Star Wars," she said, trying hard but failing to keep the grin from overtaking her face.

_Holy shit he looks good. Funny how two pints of blood and some hospital-grade painkillers can really put the color back in a guy's cheeks._

"What can I say? I like a good Wookie," he said, playfully taunting her with an obviously intentional flub.

_Sure, I'll play along._

"Jabba the Hut wasn't a Wookie." Mac sat down on the edge of Dick's bed and gently rumpled his hair. "Wookies are big and hairy."

Dick looked her over studiously. "For somebody who's not my friend, you sure do like sitting on my hospital bed. Visit a lot of the people you dislike in the hospital, do ya?"

She shrugged. "When I've got the time, I've been known to do a little charity."

He grabbed for her hand and she felt her breath catch in her throat. "We could joke around like this for a while, but eventually you're gonna have to tell me what's up. It's why you came in here, right?"

_How does he do that?_

Mac's eyes widened and she pulled her hand away gently. "I – uh – how do you know I didn't just come in here to check on you?"

Dick let his head bounce lightly against the headboard and pursed his lips in thought. "I don't know, I just do. You've been crying. You probably wouldn't be crying over me," he said, almost as a question.

_If you only knew how many tears I've cried over you in the last 24 hours, you'd probably never want to talk to me again. Even I'm freaking embarrassed and they're my tears._

Mac abruptly stood up. "Let me get you that glass of water."

Dick grabbed her wrist and held her there. "Fuck the water, Mac. What's wrong?"

She sank back down on the bed and allowed her eyes to meet his. The look he was giving her wasn't sexy, it was one of deep concern, and for some reason that affected her even more than any half-lidded come hither stare ever could. "I don't even know where to begin."

"What happened after I left? That asshole didn't - -"

His face screwed into a frown and she grabbed for his hand to calm him. "No! No, of course not."

_Well, kind of...but not as bad as you're imagining and definitely not the reason I'm losing my mind._

Dick visibly relaxed. "Thank fucking God."

Mac's stomach flip-flopped at his emotional investment in her safety and she gave herself permission to grip his hand tighter. "I didn't leave too long after you did. As soon as I saw them dump you onto the sidewalk in front of the hospital, I was out of there."

His forehead creased. "What do you mean 'saw'?"

_Fuck. Should I lie?_

"I made Alexei show me the video feed from the van they had you in."

Dick squeezed her hand softly. "You did?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

"Why?"

_Ah yes, the million dollar question. How am I supposed to tell you why, when I don't even know myself?_

"That was the deal, you heard it. I would come work for him and he'd take you to the hospital. I wanted to make sure he held up his end of the bargain," she said, trying to sound professional and detached about the transaction.

Dick leaned closed and a hint of a smile played on his lips. "Why did you make that deal, Mac?"

_Oh. I didn't really anticipate followup questions._

"I didn't want anything bad to happen to you," she said, nearly in a whisper.

"Why?"

_Jeez. He really isn't giving up._

She tried to turn her face away, but he reached out and tilted her chin toward him.

"Why?" he whispered, and the sound of his voice shot through her body, making even her toes tingle with an erotic pulse.

_You need to put the kibosh on this right now. You're only making it worse for both of you._

Mac shook his hand off her face. "Leo's dead."

_Okay, that wasn't exactly what I planned to say just now, or when and how I wanted to break that particular tidbit of tragic news. I panicked, okay? Lay off of me, conscience!_

Dick's jaw dropped open and he fell hard against the headboard of the bed with a thud. "Fuck. Fuck! Leo? Really? Man, that's just...how?"

"A car bomb."

"That is fucked up..." he hissed angrily, shaking his head in disbelief.

Mac tucked her bob-length hair behind her ears and continued. "It was planted under Veronica's car."

Dick's hand flew to his mouth and he looked as though he was about to be sick. "Ronnie isn't...?"

Mac grabbed for his hand again and pulled it from his face. "Oh God, no! I'm sorry Dick, I should have clarified."

He smiled and let out the breath he was holding. "Shit. I've had my lifetime fill of 'Emo Logan', you know? If Ronnie had kicked it, he'd be the emoest version of himself there is. We'd have to hide his bath robe."

_I can't even entertain that scenario in my mind without it turning into a nightmare._

"Yeah, it's not his best look."

Dick ran his fingers over his bandage. "Were you, um, there when it happened?"

She looked away and nodded.

"Man, I...shit. What am I supposed to say?" he asked in earnest.

Mac shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Dick painfully scooted over and patted the empty space next to him in the bed, and she eyed him suspiciously. "What? I'm not exactly in the condition to try and fuck you on the hospital bed. I think you're safe."

_Why does the prospect of getting fucked by Dick on a hospital bed turn me on? What the hell is going on with me?_

"Fine." She slid up to the head of the bed and sat next to him.

He wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and despite her best efforts, she felt herself slowly melting into his side. "I mean, don't get me wrong, if I didn't have a hole in my chest I would _totally_ try to fuck you on this bed, and you would _totally_ let me, I can tell. I once saw a great porno where the nurses - -"

"No." Mac abruptly tried to stand up and he yanked her back down by the hem of her dress.

"Come on, Mackie, stay! I promise I'll be good," Dick begged.

_You have no idea how badly I want to stay. I just can't. It's too dangerous for you if he catches us together. It'll only make you more of a target._

Her brow knitted as she considered his plea. She could leave, which would be the right thing to do, or she could do what felt right and stay with him.

Mac raised an eyebrow in admonishment and then settled back into her spot next to him. It didn't matter at that moment that she was probably being irresponsible and selfish or that he had no memory of what they were to each other, she needed him.

_Maybe just this once..._

He affectionately nudged her shoulder with his uninjured one. "You and me, we're friends Mackie. Admit it."

She shrugged unconvincingly. "I admit nothing."

Dick draped his arm around her again. "I think I like us being friends."

_What?_

Her expression dropped and she turned to look at him, wondering if he realized what he had just said. She peered into his face and looked for signs of remembrance, but found nothing there.

"I think I like us being friends too, Dick."

Mac was surprised that she meant those words far more now than the first time she'd said them to him.

* * *

The nurse walked briskly into Veronica's room and shoved an electric thermometer into her mouth, roughly waking her from her sleep.

Veronica was disoriented, and for a split second, had no idea where she was, until she looked down and noticed Logan's head lying face down on her lap, deep in slumber. She felt the cool strands of his golden brown hair float through the tips of her fingers, but noticed that was all she could feel.

_Why are my hands all bandaged up?_

She did a quick accounting of her body parts to make sure they were all in tact, and then turned to the nurse, who was busily jotting down Veronica's stats. "What...?"

"You were in an accident, dear," the nurse said sweetly, then patted the top of her wrapped hand softly.

Veronica shook her head, which felt heavy and stiff at the neck. She could see the woman talking, but no sound was coming through her lips. It was like somebody had pressed the mute button. "What?"

She squinted, as if looking harder at the nurse would help her hear the woman better.

The nurse tapped her hand again. "Oh dear, the doctor warned us this would probably happen. Just sit tight honey, and I'll get him for you."

_Oh crap. It's not just her I can't hear. It's everything._

Her pulse began to race and a panic attack gripped her chest. "I can't hear you! I can't hear anything!" she called after the woman as she retreated into the hallway.

Logan stirred and noticed her panicking immediately. "It's okay, Veronica. I'm here."

He climbed up onto the bed next to her and grabbed the sides of her neck, bringing her forehead to rest on his. "You're okay. You're going to be okay. I've got you, baby."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting his strength wash over her. She was confused and in pain, but he was there with her, so she knew things would be okay. He'd make them okay.

Veronica was instantly taken back to her last hospital stay, almost three months ago. She had panicked then too, but the only one there was her dad, and while he made her feel loved, Logan made her feel everything.

Logan wiped the hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ears. "Hey," he said, smiling sadly at her. "You're okay."

Her face crumpled and her breath heaved a few times. "I can't hear anything."

He nodded. "I know. It's normal. NOR-MAL," he mouthed carefully, forcing her to make eye contact with him.

_Normal for what?_

Veronica looked down at both of her yellow-tinged hands, bringing one of them up to her nose, and inhaled the scent of iodine and smoke.

_Why do I smell like smoke?_

She next yanked the sheets off of her legs and saw the blood-soaked bandages covering her knees.

Fragments of memories started pouring in, stitching themselves to her like a patchwork quilt. She didn't know what the full picture would end up being, but the scraps she was piecing together did not look good.

_Think logically, Veronica! Use those powers of deduction you spent so many years honing. You have bandages on your hands and knees, which suggests you fell forward onto something hard. _

Logan hugged her to his chest and she smiled against it. She was making progress now.

_There's no use panicking and imagining all sorts of crazy scenarios. Your imagination is probably dreaming up something way worse than what actually happened to you. _

Focusing on the facts would busy her brain, which in turn would help keep her sane while she tried to figure out what the hell transpired.

_My brain is foggy, but that's okay, I'm not brain damaged. If my brain is okay though, then why can't I hear? _

Veronica knew there were only two things that could cause a traumatic ear injury like the one she had – sound and pressure.

_I wasn't skydiving or underwater, so Occam's Razor would suggest that sound is the culprit. What causes a sound loud enough to rupture a person's eardrums?_

"An explosion," she said out loud, and when she felt Logan pull her in closer to him, she knew that she was right. "I was in an explosion, wasn't I?"

She leaned back to look him in the eyes, and he met her gaze bravely. "Yes. An explosion."

Veronica tried to comb her bangs from her face to see him better but her bandages kept tripping them up.

Logan smiled and helped her clear her face, then planted a featherlight kiss on her lips. "I was so scared."

_Oh Logan..._

She didn't have to know how to read lips well to figure out what he was saying. It was written all over his face.

"I love you. I thought for a minute that I'd lost you, and it felt like I had died," he said, tears pricking his eyes.

Veronica softened and ghosted the sides of his face with her fingertips. "I'm okay."

He nodded. "This was way worse than with Lilly. What I feel for you is so much more." He let the tears fall liberally and she wiped them away. "I can't lose you."

_Oh God, it must have really been serious if you're this upset. Did you think I was dead? Was I almost killed?_

She shushed Logan like she had after his mom died and pulled him down to kiss her. "I love you. I love you more than anything. I'm not going anywhere," she said in between wet, salty kisses.

Logan sniffed loudly and started to laugh. "I just realized you can't hear a word I'm saying. I'm just some soft dude crying in your arms like Ryan O'Neill in 'Love Story'."

Veronica shook her head. "It's okay that you were scared, so stop mocking yourself. In fact, I love that you were scared."

He tilted his head and massaged his beleaguered brow with the knuckles of his hand. "You can hear me?" He mimed out his question.

She shook her head. "I don't have to hear you to know what you're thinking. I have many years of experience dealing with your mercurial moods."

He let out a puff of air and cupped her face again. "The world just isn't interesting enough for me without you in it."

She leaned forward and kissed him, then rested her chin on his shoulder.

It was then that Veronica noticed the jacket hanging on the back of Logan's chair and swallowed thickly. "Where's Leo?"

_You know where Leo is. You passed out right next to his left arm._

He didn't speak right away, but she already knew the answer. It all came back at once. The car, the bomb, his body parts strewn throughout the lot. "I feel sick."

Logan grabbed a trash bin and held it in front of her while she vomited into it, securing her hair back with his other hand. She hadn't eaten for a while, so there wasn't much in her, but what was there was now gone.

"Are you done?" he mimed, handing her a wet linen from the side table.

Veronica nodded and took the washcloth to wipe her face. "Still happy I'm alive?"

Logan rubbed circles on her back and pressed a kiss to her temple. "That's not even a little bit funny. You're losing your touch Mars," he mouthed to her.

"They can't all be winners," she said, leaning heavily against him. "I'm thirsty."

Logan got off the bed and kissed the top of her head. "I'll flag down the nurse to get her to bring some water. I'll be back in 90 seconds," he said, forming the numbers with his fingers for her.

The moment the door shut behind her boyfriend, Veronica collapsed into a heap and willed herself to push out all of her grief in the next minute and a half. She couldn't be this exposed, even in front of Logan. She cried hard and with purpose, rasping through moist sobs until her throat had run dry.

Leo was gone. He was brave and sweet and the truest man she'd ever known, and now he was gone.

_Leo D'Amato is dead and it's all my fault. _

Veronica used her bed sheet to clean her face and put on a brave mask. She would need a strong facade to get the job done. If there was one thing she knew, it was that you don't have a chance in hell of chasing down a killer if you walk around acting like a victim. They'll see you coming from a mile away, and she couldn't have that. If she wanted to get it right, she would need to go against her nature and do this methodically, fly under the radar. Whoever killed Leo would never see her coming...at least, not until she wanted them to.

* * *

**A/N - So what do you think? Did you like this one? End it here or do one more chapter? I'm fine with either. **

**Here I am - shilling for birthday reviews, favs, follows and whatever else you feel like throwing my way (ahem, jewelry). **

**:)**

**Thanks to everybody reading this for sticking with this long (sometimes confusing but hopefully entertaining) plot. There will be lots of story to tell in the sequel, so watch this space for an announcement. I cannot express enough how much fun this has been to write - with the best part being interacting with all of you and getting your reactions as the story progressed. THANK YOU!**


	39. Chapter 39

**THANK YOU for all of the birthday wishes! You guys are so sweet. I really appreciate each and every single one of the reviews, they really made my day special :)**

**I decided to write one more chapter to wrap things up before the sequel. Again, the sequel is all mapped out, so it won't be as meandering as the plot in this one, but it will still be twisty. You will see Weevil again (I know he hasn't been in this much lately), Wallace, and Lianne/the Kanes will be back too.**

**Special thanks, as always, to silverlinings2k6, who is my concrit extraordinaire.**

**PS - I'm ending this chapter with a healthy scoop of sMut, so gear up!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 39**

Wallace walked past Veronica's hospital room and was nearly sideswiped by Logan who was on his way out. Always deft on his feet, he managed to step aside at the last moment before collision.

"Hey man, I'm sorry about that," Logan said, his hands shooting to the sides to catch his balance. "Though I see your footwork is still as sharp as it was during your baller days."

"Ain't no thing" Wallace said, taking in Logan's disheveled appearance. "You're actually the person I came to see."

"Me?" Logan put a hand to his chest. "Should I be flattered or alarmed?"

_Here we go..._

Wallace gave him a hard look. "I wouldn't be carving our names on a tree just yet."

"Okay..." Logan said, drawing out the word. He braced himself against the wall in anticipation and nervously tapped out a fast rhythm on his jeans-clad thigh. "Let 'er rip, Wally. My week can't really get any worse at this point."

"Your week might just get worse if you call me Wally again." Wallace pulled a pair of keys out of his pocket, held them up for a moment, then tossed them to Logan. "I brought your car over."

"Thanks man, I really appreciate that. And can you tell your mom thanks too if you see her before I do?" he asked. "She's been really cool the last few days. I'm convinced her lasagna is the only thing that kept Veronica from tearing everybody's heads off."

"My moms knows what's up. Nobody feels safe around that girl when she's hungry."

He debated whether or not to bring up what was on his mind. As mistrustful as he had been of Logan in the past, he couldn't deny the dedication the guy had been showing his sister over the last three days.

_I want to believe he's gotten his shit together, but I've seen too much to totally get on board with that just yet._

Wallace pressed his thumb into the edge of the card he had stuffed into his pocket. There was too much up in the air as far as he was concerned for him to trust Logan with his sister again. He'd need an explanation he could live with. "Look, when I got to your car, there was something on your windshield."

Logan's eyes widened and he pushed himself off the wall. "Let's go for a walk."

Wallace felt his shoulder being grabbed and he allowed Logan to guide him away from the area outside Veronica's hospital room.

As soon as they made it further down the hall, he turned to him and frowned. "What the hell, man? Seems like you already have a pretty good idea of what I found on your car, huh?"

Logan took a deep breath and let it out. "A white rose, right?"

_Damn. I was kinda hoping you would be clueless about this one. I don't want to have to kick your ass. I'm not even sure I'd be able to kick your ass, but if you're fucking over one of mine, you'd better believe I'm gonna give it my best shot._

"Yeah, and a note. I wouldn't have read it, but it was taped on the glass." Wallace paced a few steps away and then back again. "Is this something I need to concern myself with?"

"Why would you concern yourself with it?" Logan asked, looking truly confused.

"I'm only gonna ask you this once, and you can just consider this your first, second and third warning all rolled into one. Are you fucking around on my sister?" His features darkened and he puffed his chest out slightly to appear more intimidating.

_I'm a grown-ass man threatening a person in the hallway of a hospital. I wonder how many other recent MA's from Cal-Tech have ever been in my shoes? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 'zero'. Yeah, this is kind of beneath me, but what can I say, I take care of my own._

Logan pressed a fist to his mouth and Wallace couldn't figure out if his reaction leaned more toward hurt or pissed. "You're seriously asking me that? I may have screwed a lot of girls, but I've never cheated on any of them...and you really think I'd do that to Veronica? I'd step into traffic if it would keep her safe, you've got to know that. Maybe I've done some things I'm not proud of in the past, but I do have somewhat of a moral code, even if there are a lot of caveats."

_Great. Now I kind of feel like an asshole._

"Okay. I feel you man, but you know I had to ask. It's my job."

Logan gave him a lopsided smile. "I'd probably think less of you if you hadn't."

_Damn that Echolls family charm. It got his dad off a murder rap, and it makes this guy impossible to for me to hate._

Wallace dug into his pocket and produced the folded piece of ecru card stock. "This note is all kinds of messed up, though."

Logan took the note from his fingers, flipped it open to read the contents, and immediately winced.

_**My Dearest Logan,**_

_**At death, there's rebirth**_

_**I needed hope, needed love**_

_**There was only pain**_

_**-Always watching**_

Wallace leaned over to read the note again. "You see what I mean? This girl is from Crazytown, USA. You've got to show it to Keith."

"No. Pretty sure his plate is full right now," Logan said with a shake of the head.

"Then go to the police," he told him firmly.

"And tell them what? Some girl I nailed God know's when is writing me love notes and leaving flowers? She hasn't technically threatened me or done anything overtly illegal yet..."

Wallace could see his point, but it didn't make him feel any better about it. "You say that like you're not sure."

Logan a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm sure she _has_ broken the law, but I'm also sure I'd get my ass laughed out of the station if I tried to bring her up on charges for breaking into my house and leaving me flowers. Anyway, there's no way to prove she was there."

_Say what?_

"This chick broke into your house? That's some fucked up shit right there. Was Veronica home at the time?" he asked, fear starting to creep into his chest as nightmarish flashes of his hearing-impaired step-sister getting jumped from behind invaded his brain.

Logan looked ashamed.

"You cannot be handling this all by yourself. That's just a dumb person move, and I know for a fact that you're no dummy," he said, earning a surprised look from his sister's boyfriend. "Yeah, I've read the books. So what?"

"I didn't realize you were such an aficionado of the crime novel genre, Fennel," Logan said with a self-satisfied smirk.

Wallace balked. "You think you can write a book about my girl and I'm not going to check out what you said about her?"

Logan relaxed against the hallway wall. "And what was your verdict?"

_I loved it. Yeah, I admit it, I read them all. I ain't telling you that though, your head is big enough as it is._

"They were a'ight," he fronted, then turned quickly serious. "Look, if you're not going to go to the police, then at least let me help you out?"

"You're a mechanical engineer. The only way you can help me is if you can build a time machine so I can go back and _un_fuck whomever this woman is, so she'll leave me alone?"

"I got this, man. Come on, I want to help," he offered.

Logan crossed his arms and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "I don't need help."

_Why is this debutante being so stubborn? I could give a shit about his ass, but unfortunately, he lives with Veronica, and I'd walk across fire for that girl._

"How long do you think you can keep this from Veronica without her finding out? She's gonna get most of her hearing back at some point soon, and even without the use of her ears, she has eyes," Wallace warned. "Come on. I know I'm not your girlfriend, but I've got skills. I can help you."

Logan erupted in an exasperated laugh. "Why is everybody in your family so pushy?"

"It's how we do." Wallace shrugged.

"Yeah, okay, I'll take the help, but only if you promise not to mention any of this to Ronnie," he said. "I don't want to stress her out more than she already is."

Wallace grinned. "I'll keep it locked up as tight as a Laker Girl's ass."

Logan frowned at the analogy.

_Not a fan? Okay, then._

"I won't say anything to her, I promise."

* * *

Veronica refused to sit in bed any longer than she forcibly had to. She may not have her hearing back yet, but she wasn't an invalid, and would be damned if she'd let them all treat her like one.

Keith sat quietly in the guest chair until his daughter leapt from her bed. "Veronica..."

_Stop looking at me like that._

"I'm fine. You and I both know that I've been through worse," she said, pulling out her iPad, and enabling the talk-to-type software.

He grabbed the iPad from her hands and tapped the button to speak. "You don't get it honey, it doesn't matter if you've been through worse. You're my daughter, I don't want you to go through anything at all. I don't even like to think of you getting a splinter."

Her face softened as she read his words and she felt suitably contrite.

_You're his baby. It's his job and his right to baby you. You can't take that pleasure from him when it's the one thing he can focus on right now that doesn't cause him any pain. Let him have this._

Veronica curled up onto his lap and he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm glad you're here, pop. You're always here when I need you most."

"And I always will be." Keith kissed the top of her head and held her tighter. "I just wish you could pick a different location next time you need me. I mean, don't get me wrong, the hospital has its charms, but if you've seen one motorized bed you've seen them all. Am I right?"

She laughed as she read the readout. "It was between this and Italy. Clearly, I chose poorly."

Keith made a face. "Eh, maybe not. Florence is a shit hole...there's gardens and classical statues everywhere...blech. Besides, you don't even like Italian food."

"Well, you're right at about that," she said, a smile overtaking her face for the first time since the blast.

"What did the doctor say about your ears?" he asked.

Veronica sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Unfortunately, the sonogram didn't tell them much more than they already knew. My Tympanic membrane ruptured, and it could take as long as six months to get back my hearing. Even then, it might not even be perfect. I could have intermittent tinnitus, dizziness and permanent conductive hearing loss."

Keith's brow wrinkled. "Why didn't they do an MRI?"

_Dumb move, hotshot._

"Vertigo," she said very seriously. "My inner ear is out of balance and it's throwing off my center of gravity. I was having non-stop motion sickness when they first brought me in."

"Right. Logan said you threw up." Keith smoothed her hair away from her face. "Are you feeling better now?"

_Change the subject. Quickly._

"Yeah. I can even hear a little bit on and off, but the constant ringing sound is driving me a bit nuts. This could put a huge crimp in my eavesdropping abilities," she said sourly.

"I seriously doubt that. Worst case scenario, we can get you one of those giant ear horns like Mr. MacGoo used to wear, and if that doesn't work, well, at least it's a conversation piece."

"...not that I'd be able to hear the conversation, anyway, dad." She playfully nudged him in the arm. "Speaking of cartoon idiots, how's Dick doing?"

Keith smiled at her with amusement. "You suddenly care about how Dick Casablancas is feeling? You must have hit your head harder than we thought."

"Well...he is kind of like Logan's brother, so I probably should make nice with him if he's going to be like, my brother-in-law or something."

Her father's eyes widened with surprise. "Brother-in-law? You have some news you'd like to share with me?"

Veronica buried her face into her hands. "Oh God. That is _so _not what I meant."

"Freud would beg to differ," he said smugly.

She reached for the iPad and read his response to her. "Yeah, well you know better than I do that a piece of paper means nothing, in this day and age."

"Why would I know better?" Keith asked.

She climbed into the chair next to his. "Well...mom. Is not like a marriage certificate kept her around. Hell, it didn't even keep her faithful to you when she was around."

He nodded, looking like he was gearing up for a lecture.

_On the plus side, I can literally tune this one out with no effort whatsoever._

"That piece of paper means something when it's with the right person. It means something to Alicia and me."

She grimaced at her own callousness and wondered how she was even able to speak with both of her feet lodged halfway down her throat. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to imply..."

Keith waved his hand in the air to silence her. "I'm not mad, Veronica. I just don't want you to let my mistakes define you, okay?"

"You didn't make a mistake, she did."

_And she hasn't stopped. She never learns._

Everything always came back to Veronica's mom. Her fucking mother. Lianne Mars may have given her life, but she also didn't waste any time ruining it. She may have taught her how to speak, but she also showed her how to lie. She may have taught her how to walk, but she did an even better job of showing her how to run away. There was nothing innocent that she had learned in life that wasn't immediately perverted by her mother's weaknesses.

Everybody always said she was just like her mother – same eyes, same flaxen hair, same selfish heart beating inside her chest. Like mother like daughter. If it weren't for her father, she would have never learned humility and honor. He single-handedly kept her from descending into the muck from which she was born.

_You continue to save me from myself, even now._

"Life is complicated, especially ours for some reason. I would give anything to make things easy for you, honey, but you're an adult now, and you have to find your own way. If I didn't think you could, we wouldn't be having this conversation," he said, and patted her knee lightly. "Do ya dig?"

_I dig. Wish I could say I hear ya loud and clear, but..._

She wrinkled her nose at her dad and smiled. "Have I told you lately how lucky I am to have you?"

"Hey!" Keith opened his arms and aimed both thumbs at himself. "Who's your daddy?"

Veronica blanched. "You have to stop. It's not any less creepy with time, dad."

"You love it." He laughed and placed another kiss on Veronica's head. "I'm going to go check on what's keeping Logan."

He let himself out of the room and was immediately halted by the sight of his wife arguing with an unwelcomed visitor in the hallway.

* * *

Keith sighed deeply as he observed the altercation from afar.

"I have a right to see her!"

Alicia's eyes turned hard and she raised both of her arms across the hallway to block the guest. "No, you don't. She's not a child, she's an adult, and you lost all of your rights when she turned 18. Before that, actually."

"You're not her mother, I am!" Lianne yelled tearfully, her face red and puffy from distress.

"I may not be her blood relative, but she is my daughter, and I will not let you go in there and upset her like this," she said, lowering her voice to avoid causing a scene. "Lianne, I am happy to tell her that you came by, but you can't go in there. Not in your condition."

_When the going gets tough, Lianne gets wasted._

Lianne collapsed against the wall sobbing hysterically as Keith looked on.

He steeled his nerves and walked over to join the two women he married. "I can take it from here," he whispered into Alicia's ear before planting a kiss on the side of her mouth.

The look she gave him said she wasn't going anywhere. "The hell you can. You've been dealing with it for 25 years, it's my turn." She turned back to Lianne and handed her a pack of tissues from her bag.

"Thank you," the frail blonde said weakly as she wiped her face.

Alicia placed a hand on her rival's back. "It's fine, but you know this isn't what Veronica needs right now."

_Is it wrong that I get turned on whenever she goes into mama lion mode? There's something so sexy about a woman who refuses to let anybody fuck with their family. Our family._

He observed the two women together and they were like night and day. On one side, was his ex-wife, weak-willed and constantly abdicating responsibility for everything bad that happened in her life. On the other side, was his current wife, dogged, steadfast and true - the kind of woman who would go to the gallows with you before she'd let them drag you off alone.

"Look, why don't you go home and try to get yourself together. I will talk to Veronica and do my best to get her to see you at some point," she said.

Lianne looked up at Alicia in awe. "You'd do that for me? Why?"

Alicia sighed and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. "You've made a lot of mistakes, but you're still family. I can't promise that she's going to want to see you right now, but I will work on her. However, you really owe it to her to give her some time to process everything, and when and if she is ever ready to see you, you need to show up sober, or I'm not letting you past the front door."

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Lianne grabbed Alicia's free hand and held it to her cheek. "I'm really happy Keith found a woman like you. He really does deserve to be happy." She glanced at her ex-husband before walking out of the front door.

Alicia let out a long breath. "Let's just hope she didn't drive here."

Keith pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers, in a passionate embrace.

_How the hell did I ever live without her?_

"What was that for?" she asked, bemused by his ardor.

"Do I need a reason?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his back. "Not as far as I'm concerned."

* * *

Mac sat next to a fully-dressed Dick on the edge of his bed, finishing up a round of The 5th Dimension on a portable gaming device.

"That's bullshit, Mac. You can't do that!" Dick whined, as she completed a level in record time, beating his score.

Mac grinned and tossed the equipment back onto the mattress. "And yet...I just did."

Dick leaned in and whispered into her ear, causing her to beak out into a rash of goosebumps. "Good girls don't cheat."

_Oh lord. Looks like you're playing more games with me than just The 5th Dimension. Well, I can play just as dirty as the next guy, so bring it on._

She looked all around her, then leaned in close, pressing her breasts up against the side of his arm as she whispered back into his ear. "I don't see any good girls around here, do you?"

He smiled and shook his head. "You're killing me, you know that? It's cruel to say shit like that to a sick man."

She affected an empathetic mien. "Well, you are a pretty sick man, but what else is new?"

"Somebody really should teach you a lesson about teasing guys," he said, his pale blue eyes finding hers as his lips formed a perfect pout. "Bad girl..."

Her stomach bottomed out at his flirtatious jibe and she could feel her cheeks growing hotter and pinker with each moment that passed.

_Oh God. Is it wrong that I want him to punish me for being a bad girl?_

Mac looked at Dick's blush-colored lips and unconsciously licked her own.

_What am I anticipating here? This is just playing with fire._

She cleared her throat nervously. "So, um, what are we waiting for? I thought they discharged you?"

Dick shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me. All I know is that they said it was something with my bill and to wait here until they got it straightened out."

Her eyebrows bunched in thought. "Not to be indelicate, but aren't you rich? What problem could they possibly have with your bill that money couldn't take care of?"

"You would think, right?"

"Well, do you want me to go check it out for you? It's a waste of time for you to just sit here all afternoon playing video games with me," she said, beginning to rise.

Dick grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. "Hey, who said it was a waste of time?" he asked, a little hurt. "Unless, you have somewhere to be. I mean, I know you've got important crap to take care of with your job."

_Ugh. Don't remind me of my job!_

She was halfway to taking her seat again when the office manager, a chilly woman in her late-30's, entered the room without knocking.

"Mr. Casablancas, I have your updated bill here for you," she said, handing a thin stack of papers over to Dick.

He looked down at the bill with confusion. "I don't get it."

_Of course you don't. You may be hot, and have good business acumen, but book learnin' ain't your strong suit._

Mac rolled her eyes and snatched the papers out of Dick's hands. She perused the bill from top to bottom, then sheepishly passed it back to him. "I don't get it either."

His mouth went from pout to pleased smirk in less than a second. "Hey, no need to be embarrassed in front of me. You can't be good at everything."

_Touche._

"What's not to understand, Mr. Casablancas? Your bill has been paid. That's why the balance reads zero," she said condescendingly, as she pointed to the bottom line.

"Who took care of it?" he asked, giving the stack of papers another once-over.

The bursar held her hands in the air. "I don't ask where the money comes from, I just process payment. Anyway, you're free to go, as long as you have somebody who can drive you home."

Dick looked nervous until Mac placed her hand on his arm. "I'll take him home."

"Great. Just have your girlfriend pull her car around to the back and you can wait for her there," she said, then turned and left before either of them could get a word out.

He smiled at her awkwardly. "Sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" she asked.

He shrugged. "She thought you were my girlfriend."

_Is that such a bad thing?_

She could feel her stomach turning over again and she tightened her grip on his arm. "I don't care what people think about me, Dick. You oughta know that about me by now."

Dick nodded and tried in vain to adjust his sling. Mac quickly reached her arms around his neck to fix the strap. "Tighter or looser?"

She leaned in a little closer than necessary and inhaled his scent, which always seemed to be an intoxicating mix of salt air and Irish Spring soap, no matter what time of day or night.

_Things were so much simpler at the hotel. I'd give anything to just open my eyes and have the last few days just be a pot-induced nightmare._

"Looser." His eyes met hers. "Thanks."

She fixed his sling and took her arms down quickly, leaving an awkward silence between them.

"Did Logan send you to get me?" he asked.

Mac felt a pang of sadness that he would think she was only there as a favor to Logan. "No, but Veronica is getting out today too, and I didn't know who else to...I figured you might need a ride."

Dick's mood darkened as he nodded in understanding. "You felt bad for me, because my personal life is like, a hot mess to end all hot messes."

Now, it was her turn to be hurt. "No, I don't feel bad for you, okay? I wanted to come. I wanted to see how you were doing. I did trade my freedom for your safety after all, and I'm sure there's some Japanese feudal law that says I own you now, or something like that."

He took a step closer to her and rested his free hand comfortably on her hip, like it was his right. "So what? Am I your slave now?" The corners of his mouth picked up slightly and she could tell he was faintly tickled by this prospect.

She swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat and reminded herself to breathe. "Only if you're a man of honor."

He took another step closer and knelt to meet her eye level. "You know I don't have any honor, Mackie, but I am strangely okay with you calling the shots, if that's what turns you on."

_Holy. Fucking. Shit._

"Oh."

_'Oh'? He tells you he wants to do whatever turns you on and you say 'Oh', like you're not completely going to need to change your underwear after you get home? No wonder the only dates you've been going on lately are virtual. You clearly have no idea what the hell to do when you have a hot piece of man meat right in front you, just begging to be sliced open and eaten raw._

Mac smiled tightly and pulled her car keys out of her hoodie pocket. "I shouldn't be more than five minutes to bring the car around."

_COWARD!_

"Good to know." Dick straightened back up and walked to the door.

Mac's phone buzzed in her handbag and she dug around for it frantically. "I'll be right there, Dick!" she called out after him.

Just as she felt her fingers graze the edge of the phone, the ringing stopped. "Crap."

She lifted it from her bag and her mouth dropped open. This wasn't her phone, it belonged to the mob doc. She must've put it in her bag by mistake after she texted her friends for help.

Curious, she scrolled through the names in the recent calls to see if she recognized any. Her finger hovered over one in particular.

_'Fitzpatrick'? That's weird. I thought they were all in jail._

* * *

Veronica remained planted in her hospital room's guest chair, waiting for Logan to collect her. She sat pensively, wondering how her life could be so different than it was just one month ago.

30 days ago, she was still milling around the East Coast in a shock-induced haze, trying to pinpoint the exact moment her life went to hell.

Now, she was back in love, living with the only man who was ever able to pierce her armor. She was happy in an existential sense, even if her life was an exhausting, non-stop carnival ride. A smooth road was never expected or even necessarily wanted. The only thing she absolutely knew she needed was to have him strapped in next to her.

She never expected her life to take this recent turn, though, and she wasn't sure she could necessarily roll with the changes coming so fast and furious in her direction.

* * *

_Early that morning._

_Veronica scratched at the nape of Logan's neck with her hand as she whispered into his ear. "Please? Come on. I know you're scared and so am I, but nothing bad is going to happen if I'm alone for ten minutes. I managed to go to the doctor my entire life without you. You're being ridiculous."_

"_Probably, but I don't care." Logan shot her an insolent glare._

_She looked at the readout on her iPad and sighed her exasperation."Get something to eat. Please."_

"_I'm not hungry," he said petulantly._

_Veronica rolled her eyes. "Okay. Get me something to eat, then."_

_She knew he didn't want to leave her, but she also knew he'd never refuse her request._

_He smiled indulgently at her underhanded suggestion and kissed the side of her head a few more times. "You always have a card up your sleeve to play, don't you?"_

"_What can I say? I'm not afraid to play dirty."_

_Logan nodded and pressed his lips to her shoulder, leaving them there for a while before pulling back. "Only evil girls say things like that when they know there's no chance of follow-through."_

_She laughed and kissed him on the lips. "Who says I'm not prepared to follow through after we get home?"_

_He jumped off of the table and headed toward the door. "I get to take you home after we do this, right?"_

_Without waiting for a response, he walked out of the room and let the door shut behind him._

_Less than two minutes later, the radiologist walked into the room with an annoyed look on his olive-toned face. "I've never seen somebody so eager for their girlfriend to get an x-ray before."_

_She looked down and read the readout on the iPad. "Yeah, let's do this thing. I gotta get the old man off my back." Veronica hooked her thumb in the direction that Logan had just left._

"_Ms. Mars, I thought we'd use a sonogram machine instead of the MRI to check your ears. Radio waves aren't as effective as an MRI in reporting detailed structure, but since we can't risk exposing you to radiation right now..." he said in a thick Argentinean accent, re-checking what was written in her chart._

"_Why can't you expose me to radiation? I mean, you know, other than the obvious."_

_He gave her a strange look and read the notes in her file again. "Hasn't your doctor spoken to you about your situation?"_

_She narrowed her eyes at him. "My situation? Que?"_

_The radiologist seemed irritated at her ignorance and turned the file to the first page. "Ms. Mars, when was the first day of your last menstrual period?"_

_Veronica laughed through her confusion. "I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast today, doctor, and you expect me to remember that?"_

_A sick feeling stirred within her gut._

"_Assuming you're sexually active...what are you currently using for birth control?" he asked._

_She knew what was coming next, even if she refused to admit to to herself._

"_I'm on the pill. Loesterin."_

_She started praying for poly-cystic ovaries, Endometriosis, a UTI. Anything but what she knew in her blood was about to happen._

"_And you've been taking it consistently for at least two months in a row?" he asked with a raised brow._

"_Yeah, of course. I take...oh God."_

_Flashes of nights spent on the cold, hard floor of the basement in the Red Room Club tumbled through Veronica's mind, and long hours driving up the coast with only the clothes on her back. No, she didn't exactly take her birth control regularly this month, in fact, she hadn't taken it for the last two weeks._

_She shook her head. "Don't say it."_

"_Ms. Mars..."_

_She began to hyperventilate, despite her best efforts to stay calm."Please don't say what I think you're going to say..."_

"_You have options. Your hCG levels aren't very high, so you're very early. You can't be more than five weeks along," the doctor said._

"_Are you sure that's accurate? I didn't have sex with anybody five weeks ago," Veronica pointed out hopefully, thinking maybe they'd gotten it wrong afterall._

"_That's not how we measure pregnancies. If you're four or five weeks along, that means your period is up to one week late. You would have conceived anywhere from 8-20 days ago, depending on your ovulation cycle. These tests are very sensitive, you may not have even missed your period yet. Is a conception around then consistent with your...activities?"_

_She buried her face in her hands. "This can't be happening. Why is this happening?"_

_The radiologist kept his eyes on her chart, not once looking in the distraught woman's direction. "As I said before, you're very early, so you have lots of options, should you decide to terminate. You wouldn't even need a surgical procedure at this point. You have time to think about it, but try not to take too long, because it's much less risky to terminate early."_

_Terminate? Surgical procedure? She'd barely had time enough to enjoy getting properly fucked and now she was knocked up? Impregnated by a guy who didn't want to have children. Good going, Veronica._

"_How long do I have to decide?" she asked._

"_You have until 8 weeks, if you want a non-surgical procedure, and that's what I would recommend, to minimize your risk."_

"_I need...I don't know what I need, but it's definitely not this." Veronica tried to stand up from the bed, but her feet were unsteady and she fell back down again._

_The doctor's bedside manner finally kicked in and he went to her. "What are you doing? You can't just - -"_

"_I have to...I need to get out of here," she said hysterically, making another feeble attempt to stand._

"_You have an inner ear injury, Ms. Mars. You can't move too quickly. You need to lie back down or you could fall and hurt yourself or endanger your pregnancy. Would you like me to have somebody call your boyfriend to come back to the room?"_

"_No!" she shouted louder than intended._

_Logan was the last person she wanted to see right now. She needed to process this news on her own before she even attempted to share it with him, assuming she ever would. "You're not going to tell him about this, right? You can't legally..."_

"_No. I can't legally say anything about your health to anybody, unless you grant me permission in writing or allow them to stay in the room during your diagnosis," he said in a reassuring voice._

"_Good. That's...good." Veronica was dying to get up and leave the room, but for the first time in her life, she physically couldn't run away. She laughed bitterly, thinking of how pleased Logan would be about that._

"_Would you like to speak with a counselor? We were going to have one stop by when you were up to it, but since it seems like perhaps you could use somebody to talk to now..."_

_Veronica's jaw tensed and she looked out of the window. "I don't need anybody. I just want to be alone, okay?"_

* * *

The door to the hospital room slowly opened and Logan walked inside wearing a big smile and carrying a bouquet of lilies.

"They're beautiful, Logan," Veronica said, and started to get up to greet him.

"Sit your fine ass down," he ordered her. "They're bringing a wheelchair to the room."

_Great. Humiliation complete._

Veronica groaned loudly. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm not being wheeled out of the hospital in a pushchair like some invalid."

"I hate to break it to you Bobcat..." Logan placed the flowers on the bed the crossed to his girlfriend and lifted her off of the chair, then sat in her place and pulled her back down onto his lap. "...but you are an invalid. At least until your ears heal a bit more."

She tucked the back of her head into the crook of his neck and pouted out her bottom lip. "I think you just want an excuse to keep me chained to the bed."

_Hey, that actually sounds pretty good._

Both of his hands wandered up her thighs and she felt him smile against her hair. "I've never needed an excuse in the past. In fact..."

Logan lifted Veronica in his arms and gently placed her on her back in the middle of the bed, then handed her the iPad, so she could read his words.

"Whatever you're thinking, Logan – stop! We are in a hospital!"

_Don't stop!_

He shrugged. "It's not like we're in church...not that that's ever stopped me in the past."

"Like you've ever gone to church!" She snorted a laugh.

He spread her legs at the knees and let his weight settle between them. "What's the response time been like around here?"

"Getting a Tylenol took three requests and about 45 minutes."

Logan waggled his eyebrows. "Excellent. I've always wanted to fuck you on a hospital bed."

"Ew. Seriously?" she asked, a little frightened.

"To be fair, we spent an inordinate amount of time in hospitals when we were together before," he said, lifting up her jean skirt. "One of us was always getting stitched up for one thing or another."

_That's oddly true. I really hope that's not a precedent for the future._

Logan ravaged her neck in it's most sensitive spots, causing her back to arch with pleasure. "I'm going to make you come so hard you'll be able to hear again," he whispered into her damaged ears.

She tilted her head to the side and read the tablet screen. "Sounds good to me."

"Anything sounds good to you right now, kitten," he joked as his fingers found their way under the thin strip of material covering her center.

Veronica gasped loudly as he slid two fingers inside of her and pumped fast.

"Now _that _is what sounds good to me," he said.

She was past caring about conventions, she just wanted to feel alive again, wanted to feel good. She needed to forget for a few moments that not only was she never the friend that Leo deserved in life, but she was also the architect of his demise.

"God, you're so wet. I don't know if I can wait. What's the verdict? Are you going to let me violate you here in Neptune General? They're actually charging us more for this bed than I paid per night at the Neptune Grand, so we really owe it to ourselves to get our money's worth..."

She looked up at him with eyes the same color and depth as the sea and began to pant. "I do hate getting ripped off..." she said between breathy moans.

Logan unbuckled his jeans and pressed his bare flesh against her entrance. "They gave you antibiotics, right? Do I need to wear something? Please say no. I want to feel all of you."

"No."

Veronica hissed as he pulled her panties to the side and plunged inside of her.

Logan groaned with their intimate contact. "Oh God, baby, you feel fucking amazing."

She reached her hands down to his ass to pull him farther inside of her. "Deeper."

It was what Veronica wanted, in every sense of the word. She wanted to feel him deep within the recesses of her body, to let him touch and awaken parts of her that nobody had ever come close to.

_Deeper!_

She wanted to give of herself to Logan as much as he gave to her, but she wasn't sure she had it within her to tap that well.

_Deeper!_

She needed to change, to be more forgiving, more understanding – and not just of others.

_Deeper!_

She knew she'd never have a normal life, but she needed to find a way to at least make it a happy one.

"Fuck me deeper! Oh God! Logan!" Veronica came hard and fast, sending her whole body into spasm. Her toes curled and all ten fingers left light bruises where she held onto him for dear life.

Logan followed her quickly, exploding deep inside of her, unable to control himself through her dirty outburst.

They both laid there for a while, the quiet of the room interrupted only by their staccato breaths as they came down from their high. In Veronica's head, there wasn't even that, it was as silent as a tomb.

"Whatever happens, Ronnie, always remember: there's you and there's me, and all of the rest is just bullshit. It's nothing."

She nodded, not able to hear his words, but getting the sentiment.

"Epic," she said, pulling his head against her chest. "We're epic."

* * *

**A/N - Hope you all liked this one! I won't take too long to start posting the sequel - and as usual, I would love to hear what you think about this chapter and the end of the fic, so please REVIEW.**

**Seriously, I feel really lucky to have such invested readers (almost 700 reviews? WHAT?). I appreciate everybody who is taking the time out of their lives to read this story and especially to all of you who have followed, favorited and reviewed the work. I hope you join me for the sequel. I promise you'll get that happy ending :)**

**UPDATE: First chapter of sequel will (hopefully) be posted within the next 48 hours...**


	40. Chapter 40

The first chapter of the sequel (it's called "Red Herrings') is up!

The FF site was having some issues with glitches and font, so I had to pull it down for a few hours, but I put the change in now, so we should be good to go as soon as FF refreshes the updates.

Hope to see you all there!


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